


Binding Contract

by alayneni



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-06-27 15:51:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 37,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15688584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alayneni/pseuds/alayneni
Summary: It is a common known fact that Pidge created the alias Pidge Gunderson to infiltrate the Gallaxy Garrison but no one ever asked how she pulled it off. Now her past has returned to collect on a debt she willing entered into in order to find her father and brother.





	1. The Contract

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Volton: Legendary Defender.

**The Past**

Fourteen year old Katie Holt walked through the doors of a shady bar about thirty miles away from the Galaxy Garrison. It was dark inside and her eyes had to adjust to the dark lighting. A few of the occupants looked her up and down but they mostly ignored her. She had never been in a bar before so she carefully surveyed her surroundings. She knew going there was a risk but it was a risk she was willing to take.

Six months ago her father and brother, Matt, left on an expedition to visit Pluto's moon Kerberos. It was supposed to be the furthest an expedition team from Earth had ever travelled. Her father was the Mission Commander and Senior Science Officer and Matt was the Junior Science Officer on the Kerberos Mission. It was supposed to be the pinnacle of human achievement if it had been a success but after the expedition team failed to check in the mission was declared a failure and her father and brother were declared dead.

The failure was blamed on pilot error, on Takashi Shirogane, a man her father said was the best pilot the Garrison had ever trained. Her father fought hard for Shiro to be the pilot because he was positive Shiro was the only person that could get the there and back safely and her father was never wrong. It was because of this she didn't believe the official story.

Needing more data to determine what really happened, she broke in to Captain Iverson's office in the Galaxy Garrison. She cracked his password, Iver$oni$thebe$t, a terrible password in her opinion, and pulled up the Kerberos Mission file. She read through it quickly and was surprised by the contents. The Garrison had picked up an anomaly at the Kerberos location and then minutes later they lost communication with the team. In the immediate aftermath they intercepted a transmission and Katie listened to it. From what she could understand, her dad and brother was captured and taken somewhere. The Garrison was hiding the truth! Before she could search more to find out if the Garrison knew where they were taken, she got caught and Iverson kicked her out banning her from the Garrison.

She built her own device to listen to the deep space communications and one word kept repeating Voltron. She knew her father and Matt were in space and there was only one way to get into space, the Garrison Cadet Programme. She couldn't register as herself that much was obvious. She needed an alias. To be sure that her plan was a success she decided to pose as a boy. Captain Iverson would never expect that of her. She chose the name Pidge Gunderson in honour of the nickname her brother called her. It was easy to hack into the Garrison and create the identity; the hard part was the in-person background check and medical test she had to pass.

For the background check she hired a few actors to pose as her family and friends. She knew from the Garrison's system what day the check was going to be carried out so she was able to have everything in place to pass that test. The medical test was a bit trickier. She learned on the dark web that there was a man called The Broker that specialized in getting Garrison cadet's passes on their blood tests and other physical fitness tests. She reached out to The Broker to procure his/her services and that was how she ended up at the bar.

She didn't know who she was meeting but her instructions were to order a Sex on the Beach and take a seat at the table closest to where there would be two guys playing pool. She felt completely ridiculous ordering the alcoholic drink. She was clearly underage and she expected the bartender to take one look at her and laugh in her face but she was left utterly flabbergasted when she was served without a word. She paid for the drink and then moved on to the next step.

There were indeed two men around the pool table. One was tall and lanky, the other short and round, exact opposites of each other. As she sat she could hear them taunting each other. The short one was bent over the table lining up a shot. Katie had never played before and had no idea what the point of the game was. The short one used his stick to hit a white ball that then hit another ball that went into a corner pocket. He gloated to the tall one before bending over and taking another shot using the stick to hit the same white ball.

Katie lost interest in the game and stared at the drink in front of her. She had never had anything with alcohol before. She was way below the age limit but she knew Matt had tried a beer. Surely it wouldn't hurt to take a taste. She lifted the drink to her lips and took a sip. She promptly spat it out. It tasted awful. She wondered how people could drink the stuff.

"Look what we have here, a little innocent," the short one said pointing the stick at her.

She looked up at the men with wide eyes. Her little faux pas had drawn the men's attention to her. She had a sinking feeling that that was a mistake.

The tall man looked at her, "Can't handle your liquor little lady? Why don't you come handle our sticks instead?"

"Huh?" Katie asked innocently not understanding what they were talking about.

The men advanced on her, the short one pulling out the seat opposite her and taking a seat while the tall one chose to stand behind her chair. A surge of adrenaline rushed into her system. She was hyperaware of how close these men were to her. They had effectively closed off any escape route she had. How could she be so stupid to let them get so close? She was losing control of the situation fast and the panic was beginning to rise inside her.

"Leave me alone," Katie said angrily.

The men laughed at her. The short one grabbed her arm roughly and pulled her forward across the table towards him.

"No chick tells me what to do," he said.

His breath smelt awful and Katie turned her face away. "You really should listen when someone suggests a breath mint."

"Why you little…" he said lifting his hand to strike her.

"Bruno, Holmes," a harsh voice rang out and his hand stopped in midair. "I've told you time and again to leave my clients alone," a tall man dressed in a three piece suit said to them. He was standing about three feet away from them with a briefcase in his hand. Besides wearing a suit in the obviously low class bar, the grey streaks that ran through the sides of his black hair stood out the most to her. His grey eyes narrowed, "Leave now!"

"She's your client?" they asked in disbelief.

The man lifted his hand and pointed to the bar. The men tossed their sticks on the table and quickly headed towards the bar. In two strides the man was standing over her. His grey eyes surveyed her carefully.

"I have to admit you are not what I expected Ms. Holt," he said taking the seat that the short man vacated and placing his briefcase on top of the table. "I am The Broker."

Katie swallowed, "You should know that if I don't return home in half an hour I've programmed an alert to go to the police. They will know where I was and with whom I was doing business."

The man smirked at her. "I wouldn't expect anything less from Commander Holt's daughter."

"You know my father?" Katie asked surprised.

"I know of him. Your request is very intriguing. 63% of my business is providing services to the cadets at the Garrison. 30% of that is the provision of performance enhancers to pass the physical fitness and performance tests and another 30% to ensure they pass the medicals once they've taken the enhancers. The other 3% is the provision of false pregnancy tests to women who want to get out of the Garrison. Never have I had a client ask me to assist in passing them off as a member of the opposite gender. The last I checked the Garrison accepted female cadets and if you want to be a boy there are procedures for that." He leaned back in the chair and looked at her expecting her to say something.

She didn't want to give him more information than she had already provided so she decided to be direct. "Well can it be done or not?" she asked.

The man laughed at her, "Anything can be done," he paused looking at her with a twisted smile, "For the right fee of course."

"This is as much as I have," Katie said putting all her money on the table. She hoped it was enough. She had sold a few of her prototype programs to make money to pay for her infiltration mission.

The man laughed, "That cannot even pay to change one test."

"It's all I have," Katie said desperately. She needed to get into the Garrison.

"I have another payment option for clients that I believe hold promise," The Broker offered.

"What is it?" Katie asked hopefully.

"A binding contract," he elaborated tapping his briefcase on the table.

"Contract?" Katie asked skeptically looking at the nondescript briefcase on the table. That didn't sound good.

"Are you willing to enter it?" he asked in a smooth voice.

"Can I see it first?" she asked reasonably nodding to the briefcase.

The Broker sighed," Sure." He opened the briefcase in front of him. The upper lid of the briefcase blocked her view of its contents. He stood from his chair and came to stand behind her, his hand resting on her shoulder. There was no contract in his hand.

"Where is the contract?" Katie asked as she finally caught site of a syringe he had in his other hand.

She tried to move but his hand held her still while his other hand injected the contents of the syringe into her neck. Once the action was completed he let her go and returned to his seat, placing the syringe back inside the briefcase.

"What the hell was that?" Katie said panicked.

"You're binding contract," he replied nonchalantly.

"That was a contract?" she asked confused.

He pulled a little remote device from his inside suit pocket. It had a dial and he turned the dial to one bar and Katie felt discomfort in her neck. He turned it back to zero and the discomfort went away. He turned it back to bar one and the discomfort returned. He turned to the second bar and the discomfort started to become pain. He turned it back to zero.

"I think you understand what will happen if I turn it up higher. No medical scanner can pick it up and it stays dormant until I activate it. When you fulfill your contract it will be removed," The Broker explained.

"And when will that be," Katie asked fearfully. She had gotten herself into a real pickle.

"Whenever I determine I have use for you. Don't worry it won't be right now. I have more than enough help in my network already. You'll be far more valuable later in life. See you in a few years Ms. Holt or should I call you Cadet Gunderson."

Katie sat there stunned as the man walked away. She had gotten her wish but would it be worth it in the end?


	2. Day - 0 - Pidge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Voltron

Pidge's eyes slowly opened and she looked at the clock on Keith's nightstand. The black numbers said it was seven o'clock in the morning, her usual waking time. As expected the spot next to her was empty, Keith having left three hours ago to go on his latest Blade of Marmora mission. This particular mission was very complex and involved several stages of infiltration into the enemy base over a six day timeframe. Their target was a former Galra warlord that had taken a small corner of the universe for himself. He was a merciless dictator and the Coalition only found out about him because of one brave soul that managed to escape his work camp, steal a ship and pilot it just outside the area that communications were jammed to ask for help. The ship was destroyed but his sacrifice was not in vain. They will see freedom.

The coalition spent a day debating how to deal with the problem. The paladins could go in and fight but those fights often caused major damage. They had learnt from the war that such battles left planets in a worse position than they were before. It was often better to try and keep as much of a planet's infrastructure and resources intact to make the transition away from war to peace easier. This was why the coalition had decided to use the Blades to infiltrate the planet and disable specific military targets to ensure that the local population could regain control of their planet and dispel the warlord.

Pidge had worked on some of the plan with Keith so she had a fair idea what he would be doing each day. She also had a full week ahead of her. The Coalition was expanding into a new system trying to stamp out all of the old remnants of the Galra empire. One of the first steps in the process was the instillation of communication relays and connection to the Galactic Communication System, (GCS). The GCS was Hunk's pet project. It was his way of remembering his first love Shay. She had died when the Balmera was attacked by a group on pirates seeking crystals to sell on the black market. An emergency request for help was sent to Voltron but it took too long to reach. By the time they reached there over 50% of the Balmerans were dead. Hunk swore they would never be late to another call again and he devised this system to transfer information much quicker across the Universe.

This particular planetary system would need six relays. Pidge was supposed to have the relays ready to be officially launched in eight days. Hunk had taken care of the general engineering and design for each relay and Pidge would add most of the programming and security protocols. She also reviewed each relay to ensure that the new relays met the specifications for each of the locations they were going to be placed in. Sometimes she wished it was easy as mass produce the relays and drop them all over the Universe but it wasn't. Site conditions had to be taken into account to ensure that communications passed through the relays smoothly without degrading. The system ensured that messages could be delivered quickly and efficiently and anyone that needed Voltron urgently could receive help urgently.

Pidge had finished work on one of the six relays last night which was good but she did it at the expense of spending time with Keith. She was supposed to have met him for dinner but she got caught up working on the relay. She thought she had plenty of time to make it to dinner but it was only when she finished the first one and looked at the actual time, she realized it was midnight and he would be asleep. She had no idea it was that late. She thought it was eight for the latest. She contemplated just returning to her room to sleep but she knew she had to at least see him before he left, even if he was asleep. She trudged across the base to his building and swiped into his room. She left a sorry note for him on his sword. It wasn't the first time and it wouldn't be the last either. She was about to leave when his hand caught her wrist and he pulled her onto the bed with him. He mumbled, "Never mind," and they curled up together. As usual she fell asleep right away when Keith was with her.

The morning was cold and she wasn't ready to get out of bed yet. She reached over and pulled his cold pillow towards her and cuddled it as if he was there. She inhaled deeply and let the smell comfort her. She wanted to hold on to that smell as long as possible. "I love you," she said to the pillow. She had been doing that for awhile. She hadn't quite worked up the nerve to say it to his face yet. The last time she said those words to someone it hadn't quite worked out the way she thought it would. They left her for their ex-girlfriend.

She heard a noise at the foot of the bed and she lifted her head to see Cosmo throwing up potato chips. "Lance!" she screamed loudly into the air. She had told him a thousand times to stop feeding Cosmo the chips. It made him sick and when he was sick, she was the one that had to take care of him. She was supposed to be working today and instead she was going to spend the morning with a sick wolf. Lance probably did it purposely too since he knew he wouldn't be here for her to shout at him. As soon as he and Hunk returned from their relief mission she was going to tell him off.

She let go of Keith's pillow and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Her room was four buildings away in the research lab, whereas Keith's was in the same building as the training rooms. Usually, Cosmo would teleport her back to her room but if he was sick that meant she had to walk back to her room with Cosmo. She was still dressed in her clothes from the night before and it showed. She was going to be the hot topic on the gossip mill again. She stood and went over to kneel next to Cosmo.

"I don't understand. You're a smart wolf. You know what potato chips do to you. Why do you let Lance feed it to you!" she groaned. "Nothing is worth being sick over the next day unless the chips are like alcohol to you. Are they like alcohol to you?"

Cosmo looked at her innocently. Who was she kidding? She would never get an answer to that question.

"Keith isn't here to carry you and I can't carry you in my arms, so you're going to have to walk with me," she said.

Cosmo rolled onto his back in response.

"No we are not staying here," she said. "You know when he isn't here we stay in my room!"

Cosmo ignored her. She sighed, "You can stay here by yourself then," she said turning to the door.

The wolf was by her side in an instant. "You're the biggest baby on the team," she grumbled as she exited the room.

* * *

Pidge decided to take the direct route back to her building which took her through the Peace Quad. She loved that area of the base and lots of people passed through there on their way between the buildings. There was a large fountain in the middle of the Quad that was dedicated to all the souls they lost in the war with the Galra empire. In the centre of the fountain there was large statue. The central figure of the statute was a human flanked by all the races that had joined them in the war. Inside the statue the Paladins had incased all of the swords of the fallen members of the Blades of Marmora. Only the Blades and the Paladins knew it was there. Pidge liked to think it represented that inside everyone there was the heart of Blade of Marmora warrior.

Many lunch times Pidge spent seated on the rim of the fountain with a sandwich in her hand watching the people go by. It was an excellent reminder of what she had fought for. Today one of the jets on the fountain seemed to be clogged and maintenance was out trying to fix it. They had roped off the area so no one could sit on the fountain.

She glanced at Cosmo, "You doing ok buddy?"

He growled softly at her.

"Someone's still cranky," she said.

After a few moments of reflection, mostly on Coran's sacrifice to save them, she continued on her way. The shiny silver lettering of the Commander Samuel Holt Building came into view. It was sometimes intimidating working in a building that was named after your father but she loved it most of the time. She pushed through the doors and the interactive screens came alive with the AI host that gave tours to tourists. Pidge ignored it and headed towards the restricted area. She scanned herself in and immediately was met with the stare of a few of her colleagues. She knew those stares well. Those were the stares one received when they were the centre of gossip. Word must have already spread that she was seen leaving the training building in last night's clothes.

When she was younger it really bothered her especially after the incident with that Quantum Scientist she had dated. The bastard had decided to dump her very loudly in the middle of the cafeteria and declare he was only with her to add a paladin to a notch on his bedpost. She had punched him square in the jaw and then ran out of the cafeteria. She was the trending topic for days! She had been so embarrassed she locked herself in her lab with enough food for a month. She lasted three days because Lance called her brother to crack the security in the lab and Lance walked right in. He dragged her out to the Quad and then proceeded to do some very embarrassing clown antics filmed by Veronica, Hunk, and Shay. Lance instantly became the central topic of gossip and the incident in the cafeteria was long forgotten. Pidge was forever grateful and Lance became her second big brother.

She glared at all the gossipers and walked with her head held high to her room. She needed a change of clothes and a shower. Cosmo could rest while she prepared herself for the day. She found a box of cereal she had stored in her room for days such as this and she munched on it while she headed to the lab to work on the second relay.

* * *

Lunch time found Pidge on the floor of her lab with Cosmo's head in her lap while she worked on the coding to secure the third relay station. This one was a little trickier than the first two. It was positioned near a quasar so for accurate transmission the information going to and out of this relay needed to be changed to another frequency and she had to program the conversion algorithms. She knew it was going to take her the rest of the day.

Her stomach grumbled and Pidge figured she should probably get something to eat now before she went late into the night without anything but cereal in her. She tried to lift Cosmo's head gently off her legs in the hope that she could sneak off but he woke up and looked at her.

"I'm hungry," she said to him.

He got up, stretched and headed to the door. She stood up and stretched her numb legs. Cosmo had a very heavy head! The line in the cafeteria was long and Pidge groaned. She hated joining a line for subpar food. She wondered if Hunk had time to cook and leave food for them before he left on the mission but she really didn't feel like trudging all the way to the Ryner Engineering Building to find out.

Two girls joined behind her and Pidge tried not to hear their conversation but they were really loud.

"I pity her. I mean her boyfriend spends more time with his supposed ex than he does with her," one said.

"They said this morning she walked in the building with the same clothes from the night before and her hair was a bird's nest. Clearly he had some fun with her before he left to tend to his other girlfriend."

"She's supposed to be the smart one but I guess the Black Paladin must be very good in bed to keep her hanging on like that."

Oh so the gossip mill was still talking about her. She didn't understand why she was always the target. They never spoke about Lance or Hunk and before Keith started dating her, they never gossiped about him either. She was always the one they chose to pick on just like they did when she was in high school.

Pidge turned around and glared at the girls, "Care to say that to my face?" she asked.

Cosmo dropped into an attack stance and growled loudly at the girls.

The girls' jaws dropped and one started to stutter out and answer but Pidge didn't wait to hear it. Instead she looked down at Cosmo, "Do you feel like eating anything here?"

He lifted his nose in the air and promptly dropped it.

"I guess that's a no. Let's go check out the Paladin's kitchen. Maybe he left us some food." The walk to the engineering building had somehow become way more appealing than waiting for food in the cafeteria.

Ten minutes later Pidge found herself knocking on the door to the kitchen Hunk had insisted be built on the second floor of the Ryner Engineering Building. The staff at the building affectionately referred to the kitchen as the Paladin's kitchen because of the amount of time they spent there. The door opened and Romelle's smiling face greeted her.

"Pidge! Fantastic now I don't have to walk across to your lab. I have great news to tell you girls," she said excitedly.

"Hunk left us some beef stroganoff?" Pidge asked hopefully.

Romelle frowned, "No, how would that be great news?"

"Did he leave anything?" Pidge asked. She really hoped she didn't have to walk back to that cafeteria.

"There are containers in the fridge with your name on it," she heard Allura's voice say from behind the door. Pidge stepped into the room and she found Allura and Veronica seated around the table already. Alejandro, Lance's and Allura's two year old son was seated in his high chair with a bowl in front of him and food everywhere but in the bowl. There were also a few engineers on the other side of the kitchen tending to their meals.

"Hey Pidge," Veronica greeted her.

"Hi all," she said as a general greeting before turning to her sister-in-law, Veronica, "Matt still away at Epsilon Prime?" Pidge asked before deciding to go over to Alejandro and pinch his chubby cheek. He was so adorable. If he wasn't covered in food she would be smothering him in kisses.

"Yeap, I'm left to throw up in the mornings all by myself," she grumbled, "Stupid morning sickness that doesn't even stick to the morning."

"Two months down seven more to go," Pidge said as she went to the fridge. Sure enough she found four containers with her name on it, Pidge Breakfast Day 1, Pidge Breakfast Day 2, Pidge Lunch and Pidge Dinner. Her heart warmed. Hunk had cooked for her for the entire time he would be away. She took all the containers out of the fridge. She could snack on Breakfast Day 1 while she worked, and then eat Dinner before she went to sleep. When she woke up the next morning she could eat breakfast in her room.

She opened the container and found two steaks, one much larger than the other, potatoes, peas, broccoli and salad. Hunk was such a stickler for a balanced meal. She put her lunch to warm and waited the minute by the counter. Allura was busy trying to clean up Alejandro with Veronica's help. Romelle was idly tapping away on the table while she waited. Pidge noticed the diamond ring that she had seen many times in Hunk's possession on Romelle's ring finger. He had finally asked her. She swore if she had to hear anymore about the perfect meal to prepare when asking someone to marry you, she was going to go crazy.

The timer dinged and she took her food out, the smell filling the whole kitchen. Veronica turned her nose away from the food and held her hand to her mouth as she tried to settle her stomach. Pidge collected a fork from the draw and Cosmo's bowl from the shelf. She then maneuvered the largest steak into the bowl for him.

"Cosmo, you up for steak," she asked lowering the bowl to his level for him to take a whiff. He obviously liked what he smelt because he took the steak right out from the bowl and went over to his corner to eat. "Guess he got over that potato chip thing fast."

Allura shook her head, "I told Lance not to feed him that. I'm sorry." She had succeeded in cleaning Alejandro but now she had everywhere else to do. Veronica decided to hold him in her lap while Allura worked on the high chair.

Veronica looked on in disgust, "Pidge you do remember the janitor's been kicking up a fuss when Cosmo takes the food out of his bowl and slobbers all over the floor while he's eating."

Pidge shrugged, "I have no control over how he eats." She moved her plate to the table and sat next to Romelle.

"Hello!" Romelle said waving her hands at them. "Has everyone forgotten I exist?"

"Oh right, the great news you had to tell us," Veronica said dryly.

"You could at least pretend to be interested," Romelle sulked.

"I would make a comment about one day when you're pregnant you'll understand but Alteans don't suffer with morning sickness," Veronica commented while bouncing Alejandro on her lap.

"We may not suffer with morning sickness but we labour for two days," Allura reminded her.

Pidge remembered those two days well, she was more concerned for Lance's health than Allura's. If Allura laboured any longer they would have had to resuscitate Lance.

"I called you here to tell you my great news," Romelle reminded them angrily.

"Right, you have our full attention," Allura said putting down the cloth and looking at Romelle.

"Wait?" Pidge said in between mouthfuls, "You didn't call me here," she pointed out.

"That's because I thought you would have locked yourself in your lab the way you normally do when Keith isn't here," Romelle explained.

"My locking myself in my lab has nothing to do with Keith's absence. It has to do with how much work I need to get done!" Pidge protested.

"You keep telling yourself that," Romelle said before sticking her left hand out in front of their faces, "Hunk and I are engaged!" she squealed loudly.

Pidge dropped her knife and fork to cover her ears. Romelle could really get up there in pitch. Cosmo wasn't pleased either.

"That's fantastic news," Allura said first. Her Altean ears were never affected by that pitch.

Poor Veronica was trying to cover her ears and Alejandro's ears but she managed to get out a quick congratulations.

"Yeah great news," Pidge muttered picking up her knife and fork and resuming her meal. She really needed to get back to her lab. This lunch break was taking longer than she anticipated. When she realized there was silence around her, she looked up and found the three women staring at her.

"What?" Pidge asked innocently.

Romelle was about to say something when Veronica cut her off. "We have to go out and celebrate. There's that new club that opened. We should go there."

"That sounds like a fantastic idea!" Allura agreed immediately to head off the fight they both sensed was about to start.

"That does sound like fun," Romelle said, "But no space wolf allowed."

"That won't be a problem. I have work to do," Pidge said.

"One night off isn't going to throw you off your schedule Pidge," Allura snapped

"You can take a break," Veronica said. "As your official big sister, I demand it and if you resist, I'll take this matter to a higher authority, your mother!"

Pidge narrowed her eyes at her, "Aren't you pregnant. Are you even allowed to go out? I'm sure Matt would freak if he knew you were going to a club."

"Pidge, pregnancy doesn't mean I have to be confined to this base. Between your brother and my brother, I'm going cabin crazy. I need to go out and you can either come with me or stay here. If something does happen, how are you going to tell Matt you let his pregnant wife go out alone," Veronica reasoned.

"That's emotional blackmail," Pidge stated.

"And when you grow up in a big family like Lance and I you know how to wield it well!" Veronica boasted with a wide smile. "Besides when was the last time we could go out without overprotective idiots hanging around."

"Great," Romelle declared standing, "Meet us here at eight. Better wear something nice," she turned to leave, walked two feet and then stopped and turned around. She looked down at Cosmo, "And remember, no wolf."

"What am I supposed to do with Cosmo?" Pidge asked Allura.

"I was going to ask Shiro to babysit. I'm sure he'll happily take Cosmo as well," she advised.

"I suppose Keith won't mind if Cosmo visits Shiro for a little while," Pidge grudgingly admitted.

"Perfect," Veronica said with a wide smile. "Be here at 8 on the dot or we'll drag you out of the lab. Remember, Lance gave me the code for emergencies."

Sometimes Pidge felt that even though both she and Matt were geniuses it often felt like Veronica was the smarter one.

* * *

After she left the engineering building Pidge decided to make her way to the Admiral Sanda Command Centre where Shiro was based. As a Paladin, Pidge did not require an appointment to see him. In fact she was allowed to walk into his office anytime she wanted she just needed to make sure his husband wasn't in the office. Lance had made that mistake once and it wasn't pretty. After getting reassurance from his Assistant that he was in fact alone she proceeded forward. She paused in front of his door and looked at the gold plaque on the door.

_**Admiral Takashi Shirogane** _

They had come a very long way since that day they saved him from quarantine. She knocked on the door out of courtesy and opened it when she heard him say enter.

"Hi Shiro," she greeted casually.

"Pidge! What a wonderful surprise. What brings you to see an old man like me?" he asked putting down the file he was reading.

"I have a favour to ask. Can you watch Cosmo tonight?" She took a seat on one of the two chairs in front of his desk while Cosmo sat next to her.

"I would love to watch Cosmo. In fact, if you need me to I can watch him till you finish your work on the GCS," Shiro volunteered.

"Oh the GCS isn't the reason I need you to watch him. The girls and I are going out to celebrate," she explained.

A large smile broke out on his face, "So Hunk finally asked her."

"Yeap, I no longer need to hear about the Altean stomach and what foods put them in good moods," Pidge replied.

Shiro chuckled, "A proposal is a big event in someone's life. Hunk is allowed to be a little nervous."

"You weren't with Curtis," Pidge pointed out.

"I was a wreck leading up to the proposal. I just covered it better. If I remember correctly both Lance and Matt were nervous with their own as well."

"Matt was just a little nervous that Veronica might say no but Lance drove us all up the wall with his fear of the word 'no'," Pidge remembered.

"No is the dreaded answer," Shiro joked.

"I suppose it is but I have things to do so I can't take this little jaunt down memory lane right now," Pidge said standing.

Shiro shifted uncomfortably in his chair, "Actually as you're here there is something I wish to discuss with you. I was going to wait till you were finished with the GCS but I did want to talk to you alone before any of the other Paladins."

"What is it?" Pidge asked. Shiro's tone told her she wasn't going to like what he had to say.

"I've taken the decision to set up a second Coalition base. I want to use a deserted planet so that if the base is ever attacked there will be minimal civilian causalities," Shiro started to explain.

"That makes sense," Pidge said cautiously.

"I want you to spearhead the planet selection and design of the base and its defenders," Shiro continued.

Pidge's eyes lit up, "Really?" Her father had done the coalition base on Earth and to be given the opportunity to do the second official coalition base was an honour.

"Yes," Shiro said seriously.

"Then why do I hear a but in your tone," Pidge asked.

"Voltron will be based at the secondary base, closer to the front lines. It will require the Paladins to move there. It will also be a military base with no civilians allowed," Shiro explained.

"I'll go wherever Green is. You know that. I'm not ready to give up being the Green Paladin yet," Pidge answered stubbornly.

"I know that but as a Commander I still need to ask you. I can't make this decision for you or any member of your team. I also need to prepare you for this mission."

Pidge nodded. She understood what he was trying to say. There was a high likelihood that Lance, Allura and Hunk would not want to leave their families on Earth and might choose to give up their positions as Paladins. There were hundreds of cadets applying to be Paladins. All of them thought they were better than them. Several thought Hunk was the weakest member of their team and as an engineer with terrible flight scores in the simulator he had no place being on their team. What they didn't understand was that Hunk was the heart of the team. He was the member that reached out and forged strong relationships between Voltron and their allies. Others thought she should step down and focus only on the further development of their technology. A more capable fighter should be in the Green Lion. Then there were races in the coalition that wanted a lion for themselves. They pointed to the fact that there were three and a half human pilots in Voltron and that was unfair. In the last eight years there were so many challenges for the right to fly their lions she sometimes thought it was easier in war time than in peace. The politics sometimes drove her mad.

"Who would be in charge of the missions out there?" Pidge asked.

"I have two candidates in mind. Ideally I would like Keith to be in charge of the operation there but the position comes with stipulations."

Pidge knew exactly what those were, "No more Blade of Marmora missions."

"A severe reduction," Shiro clarified. "I understand there will be instances where they might need him but he can't be going on missions the way he's currently doing. I have a few good cadets that I would like to assign to the Blades to develop a better relationship between the Coalition and the Blades. Right now Keith is our only representation."

"And if Keith doesn't want to do that?" Pidge inquired.

"Then the post will go to the second candidate and Keith can continue as he's been doing," Shiro responded.

"When will you talk to the others?" Pidge asked.

"As soon as they get back. I'll forward you your official assignment to the new station. You can start working on it as soon as you finish the GCS."

"Yes sir," Pidge saluted rising from her chair.

"Dismissed," Shiro said.

Pidge turned to leave and Cosmo tried to follow her out.

"Stay," she commanded firmly.

Cosmo whined.

"I said stay!" Pidge repeated.

Cosmo growled softly to announce his protest but he did relent and sit at the side of Shiro's desk.

"If you need me to watch him longer, it isn't a problem," Shiro offered.

"I'll keep that in mind," Pidge said exiting his office.

* * *

The meeting with Shiro had upset her deeply. If Lance, Allura and Hunk refused to move there was the possibility that they could be getting new pilots for Red, Blue and yellow. The last thing Pidge wanted was a change in the team. New members meant adjusting to a new balance in the team. It took them years to get Voltron to its current strength. How would it work with only two Paladins on a high level and the others on a lower level?

How would she cope without Hunk, Lance and Allura? They were part of her family now. She was a tech person, not a people person and the thought of three new team members made her stomach twist uncomfortably. She found herself unable to concentrate on her work and wondered back to the fountain in the quad. When the sun started to set she figured that was a sign that she needed to get ready. Walking back to her room she thought she saw Cosmo out of the corner of her eye but when she turned to look he was gone. She thought she saw him again in her room when she got out of the shower but maybe her mind was playing tricks on her. The conversation with Shiro had really unsettled her.

In her current mood the last place she wanted to be was a club but that was exactly where she was dragged. The girls could tell something was wrong but they thought it was about Keith and the increased time he had been spending around Acxa. She hated how everyone kept making assumptions about her relationship with Keith. Her romantic relationship was not the be all and end all of her. She was so much more than her romantic relationship. She was well aware of what she was getting into with Keith and if she got burned there was no one to blame but herself.

The girls decided to head onto the dance floor but Pidge decided to stay at their table. She really wasn't feeling the vibe. It didn't take long for someone to slide into the chair opposite her.

"Griffin," she said with disdain. James Griffin was the head of the Earth Defender Team and a huge mistake from the past.

"So Holt, how about a little fun for old time sake?" he asked with a waggle of his eyebrows. Even though he was two feet from her she could smell the alcohol on him. It was a known fact he could get aggressive when he drank.

"Sorry Griffin, not interested," she said turning her attention towards the dance floor where Veronica was dancing up a storm.

"Really, you're here all alone. Surely someone needs to attend to your needs," he tried to coax reaching out to stroke her hand.

She pulled her hand away from him, "I said no! I have a boyfriend and I am loyal to him."

"Pity its one-sided. Everyone including your friends seem to know it will end," Griffin snapped at her.

"My friends support us," Pidge said. "Not that it's any of your business. Why don't you stick to the Earth Defender Team? I hear you need to find a temporary replacement for Veronica."

Griffin laughed at her. "Such faith in your team. If they really are your friends as you think they are, then why are they a part of the betting pool?"

Pidge took the bait, "What betting pool?"

"Oh come on Pidge," he said with a sickly sweet smile, "You must know about the betting pool on when you and Keith would break up. He and Acxa took a break three years ago. By definition, a break implies there will be a reunion at some point. That has to be coming soon. All the signs are there. If you're smart you'll get out soon." He showed her his wrist computer and she saw the bets. Sure enough her friends had bet that they would last another month.

Moisture started to cloud her eyes. "Excuse me, I need a drink." She slid out of her chair and headed straight to the bar. She jumped up on the stool and caught the attention of a bartender, "Whiskey neat," she ordered. In less than a minute the drink was before her. She picked it up intending to down it in one go when a voice caught her attention.

"It's supposed to be a Sex on the Beach."

Somewhere in the far reaches of her mind, the voice struck a chord and she turned her head to look up into the steely grey eyes of The Broker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. The next chapter we'll see what Keith is up to.


	3. Day 0 - Keith

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender.

Keith's eyes opened and he looked around his dark room. Cosmo was asleep at the foot of the bed snoring slightly and drooling all over the carpet. Pidge was asleep curled up next to him. She had promised him that she would finish her work early and come to bed by eight but she hadn't. A part of him wanted to be angry but he knew better. He knew his girlfriend and when she was working on a project she often let her work consume her. It was a part of who she was and to pretend like it would not happen would be hypocritical of him. She put up with his flaws, he should put up with hers.

It was time for his mission and he carefully moved away from Pidge and off the bed. He headed for a quick shower and then dressed in his Blade of Marmora outfit. His gear was already prepped and waiting in the bag by the door. He had one last thing to do before he left. He gently sat on Pidge's side of the bed and looked at her sleeping face. She was so beautiful and intelligent he did not understand why she wasted her time with him. He placed a kiss on her forehead and whispered, "I love you," to her. He had only been able to whisper the words over the last month. He had been building up to saying it to her while she was awake. After one last glance he got up to leave but a soft growl from the floor reminded him that Pidge wasn't the only one that needed a goodbye.

He bent down to talk to Cosmo. "Hey buddy, I thought you were asleep. You know I have a six day mission. Look after our Pidge while I'm gone."

Cosmo growled in agreement. Keith rubbed him behind the ears just the way he liked and then stood to leave. As he stepped out of his room, he found Hunk and Lance already waiting for him.

"Why did it have to be four o'clock in the morning," Lance complained.

"You volunteered to take me. If it's going to be a problem I can take Black," Keith growled. It was too early in the morning to be putting up with Lance's whining.

"Ah but you can't because there is no where to park Black. This is a stealth mission so unless you take Green and we both know even though you are her boyfriend she is not letting you take Green so far away, you need a lift and we are it," Lance said pointing at himself and Hunk.

"You do remember you're dropping me at the main Blade base and not the planet we're infiltrating?" Keith reminded him with a frown.

It was Lance's turn to frown, "I know where we're going or are you trying to tell me that I don't know how to navigate?"

Sensing a fight about to begin Hunk decided to change the subject quickly. "Is Pidge actually sleeping or still in her lab working on the new GCS relay?"

"Sound asleep," Keith answered with a small smile before he sobered. He had a mission to get to. "Let's go. Kolivan doesn't like it when I'm late."

"Kolivan doesn't like it when I'm late," Lance mocked in his fake Keith voice.

"Lance," Hunk said warningly.

"What?" Lance asked innocently.

Hunk shook his head. "Let's just get to the hanger and on our way. I'm sure Allura is more than ready to open a wormhole for us."

"Ah, my lovely wife," Lance declared with a fond smile. "Care to guess how she wished me goodbye before this mission?"

Keith turned his back away from Lance and started walking towards the hanger. "Hunk, I'll ride with you."

"Uh actually Keith, I kind of have no room. I can barely get to the controls in my Lion. Romelle made sure to squeeze as many relief items as possible into Yellow. I'm not even sure if I can get off the ground," Hunk said starting to contemplate if Yellow could produce enough thrust to make it into space.

"Don't worry Keith there is enough room for you in Red," Lance reassured him.

Suddenly, what was supposed to be an easy thirty minute trip to his destination seemed like the ride from hell. The mission had better be damn worth it because he'd much rather be in bed with Katie than listening to Lance talk.

* * *

After they left Earth's orbit, Lance set the coordinates to the wormhole portal and decelerated his lion. Keith could see the Yellow Lion race on ahead of them before Hunk realised that they had slowed down and adjusted his speed to match theirs. Lance then muted outgoing communication and side-eyed Keith. That was never a good sign. The last time Lance did this was to voice his discontent with the fact that they were looking for a temporary pilot for Blue while Allura was pregnant. That conversation had been an absolute disaster that affected the entire team with Pidge and Lance siding together and Hunk trying to be the neutral party between them and him and Shiro.

Lance turned to face Keith, "We need to talk," he declared leaving no room for any other options.

"Don't you do enough of that already?" Keith commented sarcastically. Some of Pidge's sass was rubbing off on him.

"As the intelligence gatherer for the Paladins, I've been keeping track of the gossip on base and its getting bad. It's only a matter of time before it starts affecting Pidge," Lance said seriously.

"Gee I thought your job was to scout for possible threats not gossip," Keith commented. He knew what Lance was talking about and it annoyed him that the people on base had nothing better to do than talk about the Paladins.

Lance pointed a finger at him, "Don't accuse me of not doing my job. We both know something big is coming. Most of the missions you go on for Blade of Marmora are based on intel I've gathered. Something is coming and we need to be prepared which is why I'm concerned for Pidge. She needs to be on her A game and not distracted by those petty people on base or romance drama."

"Lance, what goes on between Pidge and I is our business no one else's not even the Paladins," Keith warned him.

"I'll remind you of what I told you when you started dating Pidge, if you hurt her, fellow Paladin or not, I will hurt you," Lance threatened.

Keith ignored him. He usually ignored anyone that tried to discuss his love life with him, even Shiro.

"Did you hear me?" Lance asked. "Don't stand there so smugly. I know what you're thinking. Poor Lance can't even land a hit on me much less hurt me but I will. I swear I will."

Keith continued ignoring Lance in the hope that Lance would run out of things to say but considering it was the Red Paladin that was flapping his gums, that was a very high hope.

"Hey guys," Hunk's voice came over the radio, "Everything ok. You've been silent for a while."

"Even Hunk knows you have a big mouth," Keith couldn't resist commenting.

Lance threw him a glare and then switched on the outgoing communications. "We were just discussing Pidge," Lance explained honestly.

"Oh," Hunk said in an awkward tone. "I'm staying out of that."

"Smart man," Keith commented to antagonise Lance further.

"Are you trying to say I'm still the dumb dumb of the team," Lance challenged standing to this full height and clenching his fists by his side.

Allura's voice came over the comms, "I told you not to say anything! Do you ever listen!"

Lance deflated so fast, sinking back into the chair and looking lovingly at the communication screen. Keith had to blink to make sure he was seeing properly.

"Honey you know me," Lance said a bit sheepishly. "I'm only concerned."

"I do know you," her voice soothingly reassured him, "But you have a mission to get to. The wormhole is open and I rather not stand here forever while you crawl towards it. Our son will need feeing soon so get moving." Her tone at the end promised a world of pain if Lance didn't follow her orders.

"Yes boss," Lance saluted. He reached for the thrusters and engaged them fully causing Keith, who was standing to the side of the chair, to have to hold on to Lance's chair for dear life.

"You did that purposely," Keith grumbled while he braced himself.

"I did? I was just following my wife's orders. One day you'll understand," Lance said to him.

As they were about to breach the event horizon, Allura's voice came over the comms, "Be careful and come back to me in one piece," she commanded.

"Will do!" Lance promised her. He manoeuvred his lion into the wormhole and then decelerated. He kicked back propping his feet up on the panel in front of him.

Keith let go of the chair and decided it might be safer to lean against the back wall.

"I have some good news," Hunk said after a minute or two. They had about twenty in the wormhole before they would arrive at the destination to drop Keith off.

"Go ahead," Keith said quickly so that Lance wouldn't start talking to him again.

"I also have something serious we need to discuss now that we're away from prying ears but I'll let you go ahead Hunk," Lance generously offered.

"Romelle and I..."

"Are taking a vacation," Lance finished. "I saw the request form in Shiro's office."

"That wasn't what I was going to say," Hunk replied quickly.

"Oh, you're throwing a party then," Lance guessed next. "I saw you putting together a few menus the other day with Pidge."

"No," Hunk replied, a little bit of annoyance leaking into his voice.

"Romelle's pregnant?" Lance tried again. "She's been a bit moody lately. At the beginning of Altean pregnancy they get really snippy."

"No!" Hunk said definitely annoyed this time.

Keith thought it was time to intervene before things got out of hand, "Lance would you shut up and let Hunk speak," he said irritated.

Lance sulked, "You sound like Allura."

"Is it clear for me now?" Hunk asked uncertainly.

"Go ahead," Keith confirmed.

"Romelle and I are getting married!" There was an excitement in Hunk's voice that warmed Keith's heart. It also scared him a bit because he and Pidge would soon become the only two in their makeshift family that weren't married and he knew what people were going to start saying.

"Congratulations," Keith said sincerely.

"That's fantastic news!" Lance exclaimed loudly. "When we get to our destination we have to have a celebratory drink."

"Definitely, it turned out Pidge and Keith were right, I had nothing to worry about," Hunk gushed.

"Wait! Stop the lions... You told Keith you were going to propose and not me?" Lance asked offended.

"You mean in your role as intelligence gather for the team, you didn't know about this," Keith happily teased Lance.

"I wasn't going to. I swear. He walked into Pidge's room when we were in the middle of discussing the menu. It was much easier to tell him the truth than to let him think Pidge and I were having some sort of torrid affair behind his back," Hunk explained hoping Lance would understand the position he was in.

Keith remembered the moment well. He walked into her room and found another man leaning over her looking at something on her computer. The man's hand was resting on her shoulder and Keith's hand twitched as he had to stop himself from going for his bayard. When Hunk turned to look at him, his eyes widened in shock and everything just came tumbling out of his mouth.

"I still don't understand why you couldn't tell me," Lance sulked.

"I couldn't tell you because you would tell Allura and she would tell Romelle," Hunk explained to him.

"Ye have little faith in me," Lance protested.

"Name one secret you've kept from Allura?" Hunk challenged him.

"I actually have one! It's what I wanted to talk to you guys about first. I was innocently walking passed Shiro's office when I heard him talking to Iverson," Lance started to explain.

"You were eavesdropping," both Keith and Hunk muttered simultaneously.

"I do not like that term," Lance said primly folding his arms over his chest.

"Get to the point," Keith encouraged. He didn't have all day to hear exactly how he came across this information.

"Shiro is going to build an alliance military base off world and is moving Voltron there. If Voltron is there, it is expected the Paladins would also be based there. As a military base, that means no civilians allowed. I don't know if I can give up my family again," Lance admitted sadly.

"So you're saying you want to stay on Earth and you want the team to tell Shiro we are not leaving Earth?" Hunk asked.

"We may be the Paladins of Voltron but Voltron is a weapon and it is Admiral Shirogane's decision where to deploy Voltron. There are hundreds of candidates that want a chance to fly the Lions and if we don't do it, we can be replaced," Keith reminded them.

"It's up to the Lions to determine who flies them. Blue refused a temporary pilot while Allura was pregnant," Lance pointed out. "Maybe they only want us."

"That was because Allura was determined to come back to Blue. It is an entirely different matter if you don't want to fly Red," Keith reminded him.

"I never said I didn't want to fly Red," Lance snapped immediately. "I said I had reservations about moving to the location they want to base Red. I would never just give up Red."

"We cannot flagrantly disobey Shiro. If we have to move then we have to move," Keith said seriously. "We've unlocked a lot of Voltron's weapons. Throwing a new person in could send the entire team back to the beginning process," Keith stressed.

"I know that Keith but Hunk and I have family on Earth. I also have Alejandro to consider. Who will watch him while Allura and I are on missions? I know Allura loves the Lions. It's her legacy and it is Alejandro's legacy too. I'm willing to leave the team for my son so that at least one of us is there with him," Lance explained dejectedly.

"We can petition Shiro to make allowances for our family," Hunk suggested hopefully.

"What happens if Allura gets pregnant again or Pidge? Allura's pregnancy is only five months long but Pidge could be nine months unless she decides to drop this schmuck," Lance chucked his thumb in Keith's direction, "And move on with an Olkari. I hear they have babies in three months."

Keith's nostrils flared at the jab, "We'll cross that bridge when we reach it," he managed to ground out.

"What about you Keith?" Lance asked directly, "Will our great leader take this opportunity to leave the team and permanently work with the Blades?"

"I have no plans to give up Black and leave the team," Keith reassured. "You guys do as you must. The Lions, Pidge and I will survive."

"Guys, I think this is something we need to discuss as a team. If each of us brings our position to the table I'm sure there is something we can work out. We don't fail when we work as a team," Hunk said in a positive tone.

Lance finally fell silent thinking about what Hunk said and Keith relished in the solitude.

* * *

Despite Lance's dawdling, Keith arrived at the Blade base on time. This was the main one of eight bases and it was located on the planet where Kolivan was born. Kolivan and his mother had worked hard over the last decade to rebuild the Blades, recruiting members from across the universe, not just Galra. Krolia convinced Kolivan that if the purpose of the Blades was to live on they had to move beyond their own species. She believed that there were many other species that were worthy of being Blade members and she pointed to Keith's human heritage as proof. It was a very hard sell and the first non-Galra members had a lot to prove but it worked out.

This base alone housed over a 100 members and Keith knew every one of them. He had worked with many of them on missions over the last few years. He nodded at each member he passed on the way to his assigned quarters. There were a few extra things he wanted to pick up before he met with Kolivan and his mother in the hanger.

He entered his room and a flowery smell caught his attention. Acxa had been in his room. He did a quick survey of the items in his room and everything was where he left it. He noticed his mother hung a new picture on the wall. She had started hanging pictures in his room so it would feel more like a home and not a room. The first one she put up was the one she had kept since she left Earth. His father had his arm around her and she was holding him all swaddled in a blanket. You could barely see his face but you could see how happy they were. The next few she added were photos she found in their old house of him growing up. The more recent photos were from official Blade functions. She even had the official Paladin picture up.

He spotted what Acxa had changed. She removed the picture of them from a vacation they had taken together and replaced it with one of the pictures from their Kor'th ceremony. It was the third stage of their official Galra courtship. The idea was they both had to openly confess their feelings for one another and state their intentions for their future in front of all of their Galra family. Since Krolia was the only Galra family they both had, they held the ceremony in front of all of the members of the Blade of Marmora.

The picture she had chosen to hang was taken right as she finished her confession. He remembered it well.

_Keith Kogane of Earth, Son of Krolia, Member of the Blade of Marmora, you are my future husband. You are the partner I wish to fight alongside in life. You are the partner that I will fight for. You are my future and I am your future. Our lives are forever intertwined. I intend for us to one-day command the Blade of Marmora together._

An uneasy feeling settled in his stomach as he remembered her smiling face that day. He pushed the feeling far away. He came for a mission, not for anything else.

He glanced at the picture by his bedside. It was the only picture he had added to the room. It was a photo of Pidge. She wasn't even looking at the camera in the picture. She was on his bed, sitting cross legged with her computer on her legs, typing away quickly. She was chewing on her bottom lip as she tried to solve some math algorithm. He couldn't quite remember what it had been about; all he knew was that there was something about the way she was posed that he needed to capture. He felt his focus return, he grabbed some grenades, one of his parachute packs and an extra knife, Pidge had given him to celebrate one year of dating. He exited his room quickly and headed to the hanger.

He was far from surprised to see Kolivan, his mother and Acxa already there pouring over the plans for the mission.

"Keith," his mother greeted him with a quick hug when she noticed him approaching them.

He nodded his head at Kolivan and Acxa. He could see the question in Acxa's eyes. The feeling in his stomach returned. He was not prepared to deal with that now. He had been avoiding it for the last three years since she called a halt to their courtship. He didn't want to remember everything that had happened. He didn't want to be reminded that he couldn't live up to her expectations. He couldn't be the husband that she wanted.

He turned his attention towards the plans, "Is everything ready?" he asked Kolivan.

"The teams will meet us here in twenty minutes. I want us to go through the plans again before we brief them. We will leave within the hour."

Keith nodded his head and focused on the plans as Kolivan talked through it with them again.

* * *

The first stage of the mission to free the planet was the infiltration of the eight Zaiforge cannons placed around the planet. Four were in space and four were on the ground. Clearly the warlord was determined to keep himself in power. There was one control room situated on the planet that controlled all of the cannons but it was heavily guarded. Pidge suggested that they hacked into each cannon on site and take control of them without the central control knowing. Kolivan accepted the plan and she created a programme for each team to use to take control of the cannons.

The ships the Blade used all had cloaking devices making it easy to access the cannons in space undetected. The ones on the ground were a bit more difficult and had extra security patrols around them. That was why he and Acxa had been assigned to infiltrate one of the ground cannons. His mother and Kolivan each had their own ground cannon to target.

Their cannon was at the top of a mountain ridge and the security had a clear 360 degree view around them. Keith landed their ship three miles away from the cannon in a heavily forested valley. He expected the forest canopy would provide them with enough cover. Acxa was not fond of the forest having grown up on space ships. He used to go camping with his father when he was younger and he tried to convert Acxa but she never warmed to nature. Even now as they made their way towards the ridge where the cannon was located she scowled at many of the plants and insects they came across.

They arrived safely at the bottom of the ridge line and had an almost near vertical climb up. Keith banked on the guards not looking over the edge to see if anyone was climbing up the mountain side. After all who would be crazy enough to do that with armed guards on top? When they started the sun was now rising over the horizon.

The climb was extremely taxing on both of them and Acxa started querying why they couldn't just blow the cannon up from the ship. He ignored her and focused his energy on the actual climbing instead of complaining. When they were a foot from the top they both stopped. Keith peered over the top to see where the guards were. They had to hang there for a few minutes until there was an opening for them to get to the cannon. Once the opening came they pulled themselves over the edge and then sprinted to the side door that led inside to the cannon's control systems.

Once inside Acxa looked over at Keith, "This would have been much easier if you brought Cosmo along."

"He was sick," Keith responded pulling up a map that showed the drone movements inside on his wrist computer. Cosmo may not have been sick when he left but with the amount of potato chips he ate last night, he'll be sick by now.

"Sick right before a big mission like this," Acxa questioned.

"Yes," Keith said focusing on avoiding the drones. They couldn't destroy any because that would draw attention to their intrusion.

"If Cosmo is getting sick so often maybe you should leave him with me," she said following behind him to the door that lead to the computer they needed to upload the programme to.

Keith didn't respond to her. She must have forgotten that Cosmo lost all fondness for her when she forgot to feed him. He got the door open and they moved to the consol quickly. Acxa plugged in the programme while Keith kept watch. In a matter of minutes the programme was finished and it was time to go.

"It's done," Acxa said. She used her computer to confirm that their central command had taken control of the cannon. She looked up at him, "Six cannons under control, two more to go. Looks like Kolivan's team and Wasper's team are still working on their cannons."

"They'll be fine. Let's get out of here," Keith said. He opened the door and signalled for her to follow him. The sun would have set by now and the darkness would be very beneficial in keeping them unnoticed.

"Are you sure about our escape plan?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, Pidge and I do this all the time," he said with a small smile.

"You jump off of mountains all the time with nothing but string and canvas to support you?" Acxa said shocked.

"It's called a parachute and it's completely safe. Just hold on to me and I'll do everything," he instructed her.

Keith opened the door when it was clear, Acxa looked him straight in the eyes as she placed her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his torso.

"There was a time when I used to do this for pleasure," she mused.

"That is all in the past," Keith bit out as he harnessed her to him to ensure they remained together during the trip down. The feeling in his stomach returned along with memories of him an Acxa together. He forced it away and focused on the edge of the cliff.

He sprinted forward. Acxa was heavier than he remembered and it was harder to build up the speed he wanted. He took a giant leap off the edge and he felt Acxa's grip on him tighten.

"It's ok," he reassured her as he looked at the altimeter on his wrist.

The cold air surged passed them as they fell fast. When the altimeter beeped he pulled the chute. They jerked upwards immediately.

"It worked," Acxa said amazed.

Keith chuckled, "Of course it worked."

Keith looked down. The forest canopy was approaching a lot faster than he anticipated. The hardest part was going to be landing. Usually when he was with Pidge they could use their jet packs to slow down their descent but they couldn't do that here or they would draw attention to themselves.

Keith's feet started brushing the tops of the trees with a lot more force than he thought he would have. In a matter of seconds he, Acxa and his chute became tangled in a tree. His legs and arms were bruised and he had a tree limb poking into his back. Acxa was still attached to him and she was groaning in pain.

"You ok?" he asked softly.

"Yeah but you didn't say the landing would hurt so much," she teased.

"I can't reach my knife on my left thigh. Can you get it?" he asked her. The knife was stuck between the outside of his left thigh and the inside of her right thigh.

"Sure," she said with a mischievous grin. She slowly moved her hand from around his neck, down his left bicecp, passed his bent elbow to his left hip. She then trailed her hand slowly down his thigh to the knife. She pulled it out and brought it up to her eye level to look at it. She frowned.

"This isn't your usual one," she said.

"No," was all Keith deigned to tell her. He took the knife and cut them free. He just needed to report back to Kolivan and get this day over with.

* * *

The small cabin the team was sharing was in a wooded area on the outskirts of the capital city. The advanced team had set it up with provisions to last them the duration of the mission. There were three bunk beds in the bedroom and the beds were rotated between members. Keith decided to take the first shift to sleep while his mother and Acxa decided to stay awake.

He lay on the bed and willed his body to sleep. He was just on the cusp of entering his sleep state when a bad feeling moved across his body. His eyes opened and he quickly surveyed his room for intruders. Finding none, he reached for the communicator he had under his pillow to check on the other Paladins. Lance's and Hunk's last message was that they were heading off to bed and they wished the girls fun at the club. Allura was still listed at the club with Veronica and Romelle but Pidge was shown as working in her lab.

Keith relaxed a little but he couldn't shake the feeling. Perhaps there was something about the cabin and its surroundings that was unsettling him. He decided to perform his own perimeter check. He started in the woods and moved counter clockwise around the cabin. He nodded at the Blade members he saw on patrol. When he was satisfied that his surroundings were acceptable he returned to the cabin. He saw a light on in the kitchen and heard his mother's and Acxa's voices talking.

"He never returned the Knot," Acxa's hopeful voice floated out the door.

The Knot, that damned piece of cloth that he tossed in the back of his dresser. It was from the Kor'th. It was supposed to represent their lives tied together. They each had one. To break the Galra courtship you had to return the Knot to your former partner. That was the formal end to the courtship. If it was not returned, the courtship was still considered to be in progress. It was custom for many couples to take breaks during this phase and then come back to each other and form a stronger partnership than they had before.

In the beginning he had not returned the Knot because he hoped she would change her mind and come back to him. He most definitely didn't want to start from the beginning and repeat stages one and two if they did get back together. The longer he waited the more confused he became. He wasn't sure what to do. She hadn't moved on with anyone else and they had fallen into a strange sort of holding pattern. Several times he thought she was going to reconcile with him, that mainly happened after they tumbled into bed together after missions, but it never happened. She always left his room in the middle of the night and never spoke about what had happened the next day. Eventually, it was Shiro that encouraged him to try and move on. Maybe by seeing him with someone new, she might realise the mistake she had made.

That started off a string of failed dates that led him to conclude he was better off as a lone wolf. He was not a man meant to be in a relationship. He would never have what Lance and Allura had or Shiro and Dustin. That all changed at Matt's and Veronica's wedding. He had settled himself at the bar with a bottle of whiskey and Pidge took the seat next to him with her empty glass. He wordlessly poured her a drink. They polished off that bottle easily and moved on to another one. Eventually she asked him if it was going to be him or her that would be the single one forever.

Keith didn't know what came over him at that point in time but he started laughing like a maniac before pulling Pidge towards him and kissing her senseless. One thing led to another and they woke up in bed together the next day.

He remembered every minute of their time together. It was different to what he had grown accustomed to but still very pleasurable. He realised that he didn't feel awkward at all about being intimate with Pidge but he wasn't sure she felt the same way. Thus, he was very surprised to find her at his door again that night. She too remembered and wanted to see if they could repeat it. They most definitely could and it was even better when they weren't intoxicated.

They thought they were just having fun but after six months fun turned into something very real and they decided to tell the rest of their family that they were dating. Keith never expected to find himself in a serious relationship with Pidge but that was exactly where he found himself.

He remembered Lance's warning and the new picture Acxa had put in his room. It was crystal clear now that Acxa was ready to return to their courtship but was he? Before Matt's wedding he definitely would have returned to the courtship but now things were more complicated. Since he started dating Pidge, he avoided asking himself if he was still in love with Acxa. He knew he was afraid of the answer but it was time to man up and figure out his way forward. He needed to make a firm decision about the Knot and resolve the feelings that he had swept under the rug. For Pidge's and Acxa's sake he couldn't let this go on like it had any longer.

Keith returned to his room but the feeling wouldn't leave him. He couldn't understand why it was nagging him. They were safe where they were and his Paladins were all safe so why was his gut insisting something was wrong.

He got up again and went to his bag. He pulled out his sketch pad and went into the bathroom. He turned on the light and flipped to the last page he was working on. It was a drawing of Pidge with the Green Lion in the background. He was drawing her in the green halter dress she wore to the 25th birthday party Lance threw for her last month. Keith had never seen her happier.

A smile automatically pulled across his face and he started working on how he wanted her hair to fall around her shoulders. When his mission was over, he was going to demand Shiro give all of them a week off for rest and reflection. He could use the time to sort himself out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.


	4. Day 1 - Pidge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender.

Pidge struggled to open her eyes. Her body felt numb and her mind clouded. This was usually how she felt waking up in the med bay after a long battle. General anaesthesia always had a strong affect on her. She tried to remember what she had done to land herself in the med bay but her mind was still very sluggish.

"Keith," she called softly.

When she received no response of any kind she tried to remember if she had been in battle as Voltron or just in Green. Perhaps everyone was injured because she was positive if anyone was in the room with her, they would have said something. She also felt like something was missing but she wasn't sure yet.

She tried to turn slightly and that was when she realised that the bed felt different. She used her hand to feel the sheets below her and they definitely weren't the standard issued sheets in the med bay. She tentatively stretched her limbs, they were hard to move but not because they were sore, because the anaesthesia was still affecting her. She was beginning to suspect something was wrong.

She managed to get her right eye opened first and surveyed the pitch black room. That wasn't right. The med bay always had a light on at night that filtered into the rooms. She forced both eyes open and tried to sit up. Suddenly bright lights flooded the room causing her to shut her eyes again. She felt a light throb begin in her head. That would be the headache that always plagued her when she woke up after sedation. Her head started to pound and she lay back down.

The brief time she had her eyes open when the lights switched on, revealed metal walls around her which implied she was on a ship. From what she observed the bed seemed to be against the wall. She used her hand to slide across the bed to the wall. She could feel the vibrations on the cool metal which confirmed she was on a ship. But what ship? The room didn't look like anything the Atlas had.

She heard the door open, "Someone's finally awake," said a voice that sent terror through her.

She tried to open one eye but the lights were too bright.

"Dim lights," the voice commanded.

She opened her eyes again and was able to focus on the outline of The Broker. The most notable change in his appearance was that his head was mainly grey with streaks of black on top. The look reminded her a bit of Shiro.

"What do you want?" she asked trying to sit up again. Her head throbbed and her limbs still felt very weak.

"We may have dosed you with too much sedative. The Red Paladin's book made an offhanded comment about you being affected strongly by sedatives but I didn't think it would be this bad," he admitted.

"Why have you kidnapped me?" she asked.

"Kidnapped? Oh no Dr. Holt, you came with me willingly last night. I suppose as soon as the sedative wears off you'll be able to think coherently."

"Boss," a tall man entered the room. He had a scar down the right side of his face, brown close cropped hair and the most piercing blue eyes she had ever seen.

"We're here. It's time to move out," he informed him gruffly.

The Broker took out the remote that controlled the chip in her body and moved it up one notch, the current ran through her again.

"Just to wake you up. We have a 10 mile hike after we land and we have six hours to do it in."

He turned to the scarred man, "Fletcher she's your responsibility take care of it."

"Affirmative," the man answered. His cold eyes looked at her, "Get up," he ordered.

The shock had made her limbs more responsive and she was able to sit up and swing her feet over the side of the bed but her head still ached. She noticed she was still in the dress from the club and her feet were still encased in her heels. The man picked up a bag from the doorway and threw it on the bed next to her. "Change," he ordered.

Her first instinct was to argue but she didn't have the strength. It was probably better for her to change out of the dress. She opened the bag and found a pair of boots, cargo pants and a t-shirt as well as fresh underwear.

When he made no move to leave her alone to change, she glared at him, "A little privacy please."

"Darling you ain't got anything I ain't seen before," he said leaning against the doorway.

"You expect me to change in front of you?" she asked horrified.

"You're my responsibility and despite the fact that you may look like a helpless child, you're not, now change!"

Pidge stood grumpily and turned her back to him. A small part of her was actually happy to be acknowledged as a threat. She pulled the panty out first. She took off the one she had on from under the dress and slipped on the new one. She then pulled on the pants. She unzipped her dress enough to get the bra off and pull on the sports bra she found in the bag. She pulled on the shirt and then let the dress slide down her body. She put the clothes in the bag. The cargo pants were long for her short legs and she sat down to roll up the pants hem.

"No put the bottom of your pants in the boots and tie it up," he instructed.

He was definitely a military man. She followed the instructions.

"Come with me," he ordered when she was finished.

They exited into a nondescript corridor and Pidge hoped to pass by a window so that she could look outside and get some sort of bearing for where she was. Her mind was beginning to feel a little clear despite the headache so she decided to reach out to Green while she walked. She was unable to make a connection and she assumed that it was the residual effect of the sedative that was preventing her from making the connection.

He led her to the cargo bay of the ship where several men were loading a small landing craft with crates. She followed him inside the craft to a row of seats where he ordered her to sit and he strapped her into a seat. She waited a short while before the men that were loading the crates started taking the seats around them. The last person to join them was The Broker. The hatch was closed and the ship started to move. The ship soon started to vibrate and she realised they were entering the Earth's atmosphere or at least she hoped it was the Earth's atmosphere. The ride started to get very bumpy which wasn't helping her head much.

"What happened to the shields?" she asked.

"All power is on the cloak so we get the rough ride down," Fletcher answered her.

Pidge put her head back and closed her eyes.

He tapped her roughly on her shoulder, "No summoning the Lion. You agreed to the terms last night."

"Right, last night," she mumbled. It was time to force her memory into order now. The last thing she could remember clearly was eating the dinner Hunk had prepared for her in her room while she selected a dress to wear. Cosmo kept popping in every so often to check on her and she would send him right back to Shiro. The next thing she remembered with a sharp pang of hurt was the conversation with Griffin about the bet. She fled to the bar and that was when she met The Broker.

* * *

**FLASHBACK**

Pidge stared into the steely grey eyes of The Broker remembering the contract she had made over a decade ago. The Broker smirked and removed the remote from inside his suit pocket. He turned it one notch and Pidge's back straightened as a sharp pain shot through her system. In the back of her mind she felt Green stir. She sent a calming wave towards the Lion. The last thing she needed was for Green to come crashing into the club.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"For starters a drink will do nicely," he reached for her drink and downed it in one go. "A bit hard for someone like you. Ladies should stick to wine."

"Well I'm not very ladylike," Pidge retorted. Her hand started to drift down to her thigh. Keith insisted that no matter where the team went they should always have their bayard with them and that was why she wore a dress with a high slit on one side. It gave her easy access to her bayard which was cloaked on her thigh.

"Your friends seem to be enjoying themselves," he nodded his head towards the middle of the dance floor. Pidge turned to the crowded floor and scanned quickly for her friends. She could see the tops of her friend's heads in the crowd right where they were before. Romelle had a large bun and it was easy to spot. They were dancing in a little triangle facing each other. "I need your assistance with a little matter."

"I'm not giving you green," she said. "You'll have to kill me."

"I don't want the Lion. No I read the Red Paladin book, the Lions choose their pilots and even with the Green Lion's cloak she would attract too much attention to me. No I want your intellectual skills. The Red Paladin Book was very informative in how you picked up alien tech very fast."

Pidge cursed that damn book for the millionth time. After the war had finished and the paladins had more time, they each filled their void with different things. She started studying for the first of her three doctorates, Hunk balanced his time between Shay and engineering, Keith spent more time with the Blades, Krolia and Acxa while Alllura worked on finding her people a new planet to live on. Lance was the one that didn't have an immediate avenue to pursue. That left him to get into all sorts of trouble. Eventually he decided to write a book, a very detailed book, about their adventure. He offered them first read but they were too busy.

Lance basked in all the fame. He went to every book launch on every planet, accepted all the accolades and became the public face of Voltron. He was in heaven in the spotlight but that came to a halting stop when their enemies started using the information in the book against them. Strangers would come up to them and talk to them as if they knew them. Shiro eventually read the book and that led to Lance being banned from writing another book. Lance was allowed to remain as the face of Voltron but he was provided with an approved set script for public events. Absolutely no deviations were tolerated.

"That really was a bad strategic move," The Broker said.

"Hindsight," Pidge responded.

"I need you to come with me and no calling your Lion remotely either or your friends die," he inclined his head towards them on the dance floor again.

Pidge followed his line of sight and saw three tall men with stoic faces moving towards her friends. They definitely didn't look like they were in the club for the music. The girls were blissfully unaware of the danger they were in.

"Come with me and I will call them off," he stated.

She watched the men getting closer. "Ok," Pidge relented. What choice did she have?

The Broker lifted his wrist to his mouth and said "Back off."

The men changed direction each going off to take up position at the edge of the dance floor.

"Let's go Dr. Holt," he said turning away from her and facing the nearest exit.

Pidge slowly got off the stool. Her mind was running calculations to determine if she could get the remote from The Broker before he pressed the button. Her brain didn't think she could do it; if she had Keith's skills maybe. She felt the edge of a blade press into her back.

"That is my associate, Mr. Fletcher. Please give him your communicator," The Broker said with his back still turned to her.

Pidge realised the situation had just gotten worse. She hadn't realised that there was a second hostile near her. If she thought it was difficult to get the remote before, now it was just downright impossible. The Broker had asked for her communicator but it wasn't on her. She looked back the table she had vacated and a laugh bubbled out of her. "I actually forgot it at the table." 'Real smart move Pidge,' she scolded herself.

The Broker turned his head to look at Mr. Fletcher, "Have a man take care of it for me."

There was no answer but Pidge assumed it was being taken care of whatever that meant.

She felt an increase in pressure on her back and realised Mr. Fletcher wanted her to follow The Broker. She took one last look at the girls who were dancing obliviously before she followed after him. Once outside in the cool air she was led to a black vehicle. As she climbed into the vehicle she felt a prick in her neck and the world went dark.

* * *

They were on the ground and the men were unloading the gear from the ship. Mr. Fletcher unstrapped her and shoved a heavy bag in her hand.

"You have to pull your weight too," he informed her gruffly.

It was a large military backpack that she could swing onto her back. She estimated it weighed the standard fifty pounds. She was suddenly very grateful to Keith's training drills that were designed to increase their stamina and strength.

"Where are we going?" Pidge asked.

"It's a ten mile hike with only six hours of darkness to make it," he repeated again making his way out of the shuttle. "If you walk too slowly you will be shot."

"You need me, you won't shoot me," she said following behind him. She came to the open bay and realised that there was no ramp to get down on the ground. There was about a six feet drop down.

"Whoever said I was the one doing the shooting?" he asked her as he jumped down from the shuttle easily.

He turned around to offer her his hand. Normally Pidge would be able to do the jump easily on her own but with the weight on her back she wasn't sure she could balance herself properly on the landing. She grudgingly accepted his hand. His calloused grip on her was strong but not painful. He applied just the right amount of force to help her down. It made her wonder if he was accustomed helping kidnapped women jump down from heights.

"Let's get moving," he said once he was satisfied she was steady on her feet.

The men had already unpacked all the crates onto two large hover sleds that they could push easily. Each man had a similar backpack on them. Pidge counted fifteen of them and they headed off in one long line. She felt like she was part of a procession. There was one man in front carrying a large gun and one in the back with the same gun. The Broker, Fletcher and her were in the middle of the procession. As soon as they were far enough away from the shuttle its engines started and it took off.

The terrain was rocky with gentle hills and no cover. Occasionally, instructions were issued to halt and in the distance she saw heavily armed drones patrol ahead of them. The drones never saw them and she assumed they must have some sort of blocker to interfere with the drones sensors. They kept a blistering pace that Pidge found extremely difficult to keep up with. She and Fletcher had drifted to the back of the procession with a 100 foot gap between them and the rest of the men. Pidge needed to take two breaks to rest and Fletcher made sure that they never lost sight of the procession.

Eventually, they made it to a small run down village with dirt streets where the rest of the procession was waiting for them. About three miles on the outskirts of the village, on a little hill, she could see the lights of a sprawling manor. It looked quite luxurious the exact opposite of the village. There were guards patrolling the village and their procession was broken up into groups of three. Each group had their own route to their final destination.

Pidge followed the man in front of her through the village with Fletcher always behind her. They stopped in front of a door Fletcher knocked twice and said some strange words. The door opened and they were quickly pulled inside. Three of the other groups were there already leaving one outstanding.

The room was packed with all the equipment they brought and The Broker was overseeing the unpacking.

"Come with me," Fletcher said.

Pidge was going to put the heavy bag down when he stopped her. "Bring the bag."

They stepped out of the room into a long corridor. Directly in front of her was a large glass window that ran the length of the corridor. On the other side of the glass she saw shelves lined with bottles filled with various liquids. Between the bottles she could make out different sized glasses and plates. There was a long counter and below it were various boxes. On the other side of the counter, there were some tables and chairs and an area that looked like a dance floor. There was someone cleaning the floor with a mop. It seemed like it was some sort of bar or club.

Fletcher turned left and they walked two doors down. He opened the door and pushed Pidge in. There were two other aliens in there surrounded by tech equipment. Both stopped to look at her.

"She is assigned to help you break through the security system," Fletcher stated.

The same way they studied her, she studied them. They both appeared to be male. One had the same colouring and multi-colour hair that Ezor had except his hair was cut closer to his head. He must be from the race that she was mixed with. The other was either really short or a child. His skin appeared to be made of reflective scales that gave him a bright silvery affect as he moved. She had never seen anyone like him before.

"This is the Earthling that is supposed to be good with security systems," the red on snorted.

"Yes she hacked into many Galran installations," Fletcher answered in a monotone voice.

"Galra Tech is easy. I could do that in my sleep," the scaly one answered.

Pidge narrowed her eyes at him, "I didn't see you hacking in during the war!"

"Ch, I don't do field work for obvious reasons," he said looking down at his skin and his short limbs, "I'm a more behind the scenes guy."

Pidge imagined he would attract a lot of attention outside. Fletcher showed her to her assigned station, told her the tech she needed was in the bag she was carrying and left the aliens to brief her.

"What am I supposed to do?" she asked them.

"You're here to help us break into that ugly dwelling out there. It's so unsymmetrical. There's no mathematical beauty to it," the red one said. "These kingpins are all the same. Money, power, wealth, no thought to the beauty of something."

"So you're stealing something?" Pidge surmised.

"We are but not anything like jewels or art," the silvery one replied.

Pidge still had no idea what was going on other than she had to hack into some alien security system that these two had failed to breach.

"I am Katie. Do you have any names I can call you?" she asked.

They turned to look at her sceptically. They both glanced at each other and came to a silent agreement.

"Tinta," the red on mumbled.

"Froyo" the silvery one said.

Pidge gave them both a warm smile but they ignored her and returned to their work.

* * *

Pidge stared at the two aliens in front of her. They paid her no attention as they continued working on their tech. She knew the door behind her was open. She hadn't heard the lock engage when Fletcher left. She closed her eyes and formed a mental picture of the building she had seen so far. She knew she couldn't get out the way she came; the men were probably still there unpacking the crates. Assuming the door she entered through was at the back of the building, there should be an entrance in the front, perhaps through that bar area. She knew that area only had one person mopping and she was confident if necessary she could take them out. In the corridor she had noticed only doors opposite the window, there had to be a door on that side to access the bar area.

She went to the door and put her hand on the handle.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you,"

"Yeah, they never like it when you try to escape," he shook his head vigorously. "It's always better to do what they say," Tinta advised.

Pidge nodded at them, "I have to try."

She tested the lock and sure enough it was open. She peaked into the corridor saw no one. She looked out the glass into the bar and noticed it was clear as well. She looked up and down the corridor and spotted a door at the end of the corridor that led into the bar area. The only problem was she had to walk passed the door that led to the back door where all the men were gathered.

She quietly closed the door behind her, thankful that her co-workers hadn't raised an alarm that she was trying to escape. She quietly padded down the corridor. She came to an open door and she plastered herself against the wall and looked in. The Broker was talking with two other men. From their positions they wouldn't see her. She quickly passed the door and was thankful when she only met closed doors as she headed to the end of the corridor.

The door was open and she entered the bar space. Once on the other side she realised that the glass was a one-way mirror. Patrons would only see their reflection and not realise that people were watching them from behind the mirror. The downside was that she couldn't see if anyone was in the corridor and she would be out in the open as she went to the large doors she assumed was the front entrance.

She wasted no time running to the door and unlocking it. She stepped outside and the first thing she noticed was the difference in the colour of light. It didn't have the yellow tint she was accustomed to. She looked up into the sky and saw two suns, one blue and the other red.

"Strange ain't it?" she heard Fletcher's voice say to her. His back and right leg were resting against the wall right next to the door. He had a long narrow piece of wood in his hand and he was using a sharp knife to strip the outer bark off of it.

"Where are we?" Pidge asked. Her hopes that she was still on Earth were dashed. She realised that was probably why she had had such difficulty trying to establish a connection to Green when she tried earlier.

"We're not in Kansas anymore darling. Come with me," he said pushing off the wall.

"You're not afraid I'll run away?" she asked suspicious. He was taking her whole escape attempt rather lightly.

"Where to?" he asked splaying his hands wide, "Everyone in this town is loyal to the Korg."

"The Korg?" she repeated almost afraid to ask.

"That's who we're going to be stealing from?" he answered casually. He turned his back to her and started walking down the narrow streets.

"Stealing what? Money?" she asked following him. He took a few turns here and there. If he was hoping to confuse her he was sorely mistaken. She had an excellent sense of direction and two suns in the sky to mark her bearing. As she walked she made a mental map of the layout of the village. This would help for her next escape attempt.

"This is about more than just money. This is about his entire organisation. The Broker wants it." He stopped suddenly and plastered himself against the wall. Pidge followed suit. Two armed guards crossed the street up ahead. They were busy chatting and hadn't even turned to look down their street.

They continued a short way and her nose started to irritate her. There was a foul stench in this part of town. Fletcher stopped and told her to jump up on a crate that was below a window and look inside. She was very wary of his instructions but she still followed them. Her heart sank the minute she laid eyes on the rows of cages inside the building. Each cage must have been about four feet by two feet by two feet and each one had at least one occupant in it. Some had two and three. There was no room to move and no sanitation facilities which was why the stench was so bad. She could hear some of the beings in there groaning in pain.

"Why are you showing me this?" her voice broke a little bit as she asked. She angrily swiped at a few tears that escaped her eyes. She had not saved the universe for people to be treated like that.

"Because that will stop when The Broker takes over," he told her.

"How do you know that?" she asked fiercely.

"Do you see anyone in cages back at the bar?" he asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Just because our bars are invisible doesn't mean we aren't in a cage," she replied wisely.

"Maybe so, but I would say your standard of living is much better. You can decide if you want to runaway and leave these people to suffer or stay and help them," he proposed to her.

"I can come back and help them," Pidge said defiantly.

"Can you?" Fletcher questioned. "The ship in space can broadcast The Broker's signal throughout the entire planet. The minute he notices you're gone, he will kill you rather than have you compromise his entire plan. How long do you think it's going to take you to find a ship to get off this planet? There are no ships around here. Your best chance is to stick this out."

He knew the moment she resolved to stay and that angered her further. "That was the whole point of this little walk," she said, "To keep me in line."

"Darling, there are two things I'm very good at, killing people and abducting them. I've never had one escape. I'm always going to be ten steps ahead of you. I've had people far smarter and more resourceful than you under my charge and they didn't leave until it was time."

"Time for them to die?" Pidge asked sourly as she followed him back.

"Time," Fletcher repeated with a chuckle.

* * *

Pidge found herself back with the two aliens. They were extremely surprised she was unharmed. She decided to set up her work station. She opened her bag and found the latest equipment they had at the Garrison. You could not get this commercially. She went about setting it up and was surprised when she saw her local username at the Garrison come up. Pidge narrowed her eyes. She entered her password, FrickAndFrack2582, the names of her three space caterpillars and a random number. The computer accepted it.

"That son of a bitch stole MY tech from MY lab!" Pidge yelled.

Froyo and Tinta turned to look at her, both of them blinking in confusion.

"Nevermind," she grumbled. She hooked her gear into their network, mindful of any viruses that might be lurking around and started seeing what progress had been made so far. The raid was set to happen in four days time which she thought was perfect. She could wrap up here and get back home before Keith returned from his mission. She knew the only beings that would notice her absence were Cosmo, Frick, And, Frack. Everyone else would assume she was locked in her lab.

She was forming a plan to get out of this mess unscathed. She would help The Broker with his plan, leave a tracker on The Broker so she could find him later and then talk to Shiro privately about where she had been. She didn't want the rest of the Paladins to know she had resorted to criminal means to get into the Garrison. Her current situation was her own fault and she was determined to get out of it on her own. Well maybe with a little help from Green to get off the planet.

Zarkon had been able to reach out to the Black Lion across the universe using the Komar. She didn't have a Komar but an idea occurred to her. If she was close to a GCS relay perhaps she could concentrate on a relay and use the relay to boost the signal to Green. First she had to figure out where she was. There were no binary star systems close to Earth like this one. The ship must have used their cloak and hitched a ride through the wormhole. She knew the wormhole schedule and there was only one that Allura was scheduled to open the next day after the club, a wormhole to the Atrask sector. There was a relay here. She just had to figure out how to get her quintessent connection with Green to transmit on the system.

She was broken out of her thoughts when Fletcher entered the room, "I trust you're playing nice."

The two aliens looked confused at the Earth slang.

"He means if I'm behaving myself which I am," she said stressing the end of her sentence. "I've already reviewed what has been done and I think the best solution to get in would be an onsite hack at the security tower on the south side of the compound." Pidge stopped and looked up at Fletcher, "Are there poles on this planet? I just randomly assigned where North was."

He cracked a smile at the question. "I understand your map. I'll relay your idea to The Broker. I assume you'll be the one doing the onsite hack?"

"Yes," she answered.

He dropped another bag by her feet, "A change of clothes, personal items and feminine products if needed."

"Gee did you break into my room too?" she asked with fake excitement.

"I also brought a meal since you haven't eaten yet," he said holding out a plate to her.

"Being forced to do work seems to have curtailed my usual appetite," Pidge replied with sass.

"You will eat and sleep. Your assigned sleep cycle will be in three hours. That should prepare you for tomorrow if The Broker gives you the go ahead to hack into the security tower."

"What about them?" she asked chucking her finger at Tinta and Froyo.

"Their requirements are different to Humans. Their needs are being met. Do they look unhappy to you?" he asked.

"They are resigned to their fate. I am not," she told him.

"I wouldnt' expect a Paladin of Voltron to be," he replied honestly.

"You are a Paladin?" Tinta asked amazed.

"Aren't you kind of short?" Froyo asked.

Pidge narrowed her eyes at the alien who was much shorter than her! "I am the Green Paladin of Voltron."

"Where is your Lion?" Froyo challenged.

"On Earth where she is safe," Pidge said dubiously side-eyeing Fletcher. She hoped they had no plans for Green.

"Eat," Fletcher ordered.

"You're most definitely not my dad to be telling me when to eat," Pidge said before adding, "Or my boyfriend." Keith did harass her to eat when she was working in her lab a lot.

"Eat!" he said again holding the plate in front of her.

"Or what?" she challenged.

"Or I activate the chips on your co-workers here," he threatened pulling out two remotes.

Their faces widened in horror, "NO!" they both screamed. "Eat!" they said to her.

Pidge reluctantly took the plate and took a bite of the sandwich. It wasn't bad but it seemed to kick start her appetite and she realised that she was very hungry. She hadn't eaten since the dinner before the club which was probably 24 hours ago. When she was finished, the broker pulled out a plastic bag with two more sandwiches from within his military vest and put them on her plate.

"That should tide you over until I return. You can shower before you go to sleep."

As soon as his back was turn she stuck her tongue out at him. It was all she could do at the moment to defy him.

"Please follow their instructions," Tinta begged. "We don't want to be punished because of you."

"I'm sorry I didn't realise they would harm you," Pidge stated honestly.

"The chip isn't as bad as the previous collar we had. That used to burn into our flesh and leave sores. Froyo still scratches at a phantom sore on his neck," Tinta explained.

"Previous collar?" Pidge questioned.

"We only came to be in The Broker's possession about a year ago. For thirty years before that I was a servant of another slave master. When he was killed The Broker assumed all of his assets. He is much kinder than my previous master," he explained.

She turned to Froyo, "How long have you been held captive?"

Froyo tensed. "I was taken captive as a child and put in a cage. When my race is in captivity we don't grow to our full size which is why I'm so small. I was passed around between owners. One trained me in technology. I've never known anything other than this life."

Their stories were heartbreaking and it made Pidge realise how much she needed to be thankful for.

* * *

As promised, three hours later Fletcher returned. He took her to the shower area first.

"Are you going to watch me shower?" she asked pointedly.

He had the gall to laugh at her. "No. You're not going to attempt to escape again, at least not until those people are saved. I'll be outside the door. Take your time. You stink."

Pidge lifted her arm and tentatively gave herself a sniff. She did stink. Fletcher stepped out of the room.

"There better be hot water," she said to the closed door.

She striped her clothes off and turned on the faucet. There was a temperature control setting and she set it to the desired temperature. In a matter of moments the room started to steam over. Pidge stepped into the shower and her muscles instantly relaxed when the water came into contact with it. This was what she needed. Her headache was virtually gone now. She scrubbed herself and shampooed her hair. Fletcher really knew how to take care of a female hostage. When her skin started to prune she took that as a sign that she should step out of the shower.

She dressed in her new clothes, more cargo pants and shirts. She opened the door and found Fletcher standing guard outside.

"If you know I'm not going to run away why are you standing guard outside the bathroom?" she asked.

"I may trust you not to run but I don't trust them not to hurt you," he said nodding his head down the corridor to the other rooms that housed the men she arrived with. "Come," he commanded.

She followed after him to the sleeping area. There were already three men asleep on the top bunk of the three bunk beds in the room. Fletcher woke one up and ordered him to go the bottom bunk of another bed. The man grudgingly moved but he didn't hesitate to throw a glare at her.

Fletcher looked at Pidge, "Do you need any help getting up there?"

"No," Pidge walked to the bed, placed her hands on top the bunk and easily pulled herself up. The last time she had slept on a bed like this she had shared the top bunk with Keith. He had teased her about her height and told her she had to take the bottom bunk, he then reached over the side of the bed and pulled her up to his.

"Sleep," Fletcher ordered as he sat on the bottom bunk below hers. "I am a light sleeper. I'll know if you move."

Pidge lay on the bed and fiddled with the bracelet on her hand. She wondered what Keith was up to and if the mission had been going smoothly. Getting to those Zeiforge cannons on the ground would have been difficult and she hoped he didn't get injured. Even though Pidge was positive that Acxa wanted Keith back, she knew she could rely on the other woman to at least keep him safe. Whatever happened after that happened. Her mind returned to the bet and Pidge forced the thought away. Now was not the time to be thinking about that. She needed to focus on her current situation.

Pidge closed her eyes but instead of trying to sleep she tried to reach out to the GCS relay the way she reached out to Green. If she could find a way to make a connection and transmit across the system, then hopefully it would reach back to Green and she'll be able to follow it back to her and save the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.


	5. Day 1 - Keith

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender.

Keith opened his eyes when he heard footsteps approaching him.

"An odd place to sleep," Kolivan commented coming to stand besides the chair that Keith had pulled up next to the cabin door outside. After the third interruption to his sketching in the bathroom he realised he needed to find somewhere else and he decided to put the sketch pad away and sit outside in the fresh air.

He had nodded off for a bit. He stretched his limbs and noticed that the first signs of sunrise were showing in the sky. He didn't like the sunrise and neither did Pidge. He wasn't quite sure why it never appealed to him but he knew Pidge viewed it as a sign that she had stayed up all night again and needed to go and sleep.

He looked up at Kolivan and realised his commander was staring at him expecting an answer.

"I wanted to be on full alert," Keith said blurting out the first thing that came to his mind.

"Full alert? Out here where a sniper could have easily taken you out? I know I taught you better than that," Kolivan disapproved.

Keith dropped his head, he did know better.

"Your mother is waiting in the kitchen with breakfast. We have a long day ahead of us," Kolivan said in a more sympathetic tone.

Keith stood without a word and headed to the kitchen. The strange feeling from the night before was still there and it annoyed him that he couldn't figure out what it was. He pulled his glove on his left hand forward enough to expose his wrist and stared at the simple bracelet there. One would mistake it for a watch but it wasn't. A simple black band connected to what looked like a round silver coin. On his coin was a green K, for Katie. She had one too with a black K for Keith. After they became official she had given him the black K so that if he was ever taken hostage on a Blade mission she could find him. The green one was supposed to be hers but Keith wanted the green one a as reminder of her.

He heard footsteps up ahead and he pulled the glove over the bracelet.

"I heard you were hogging the bathroom last night," Acxa said in a teasing voice as she appeared from the bedroom area. "If you had a particular need for a release last night, I might have accommodated you."

"Good morning Acxa," Keith acknowledged her. He continued on his way to the kitchen, Acxa following behind him, where his mother had several plates waiting for everyone.

"Ah Keith, grab a plate. We will be leaving soon," she said busy preparing more plates for other Blade members.

Keith nodded and took a plate off the table. He returned to the chair outside with Acxa still following behind him with her breakfast plate.

"So you draw now?" she asked curiously.

"Yes," he answered before he took a bite of the sandwich on his plate. It wasn't anywhere near Hunk's standard but at least it was edible.

Acxa remained standing beside him and he was contemplating offering her his chair.

"What do you draw?" she continued questioning.

It became apparent that she wasn't going anywhere soon so Keith stood and offered her his chair. "I draw what I feel like drawing," he answered as she sat on his chair.

She looked up at him through her long lashes, "Ever draw me?" she asked coyly.

After his resolve last night to sort out his feelings, he decided to answer her honestly instead of evading the question like he usually did when someone asked him something personal. "Yes."

"Can I see them?" she asked hopefully.

"Those sketch pads are back at base," he said quickly taking another bite of the sandwich.

"I didn't see them in your room," she said reminding him yet again of the picture she put on his wall.

"Not that base, the coalition base," Keith clarified. It was the truth. He had at least ten sketch pads full of all his hopes for a reunification with her. Drawing helped him cope with their break. It gave him an outlet for him to express his feelings without having to open up to anyone.

"Will you bring them for me to see?" Acxa pushed. She had yet to touch her breakfast.

Keith wasn't sure how to answer that question. He never purposely showed his work to anyone. Pidge had accidentally seen a few of the sketches he had been working on in his room but being an intensely private person like him, she never pried and pretended like she hadn't seen anything. For some reason telling Acxa no, felt wrong but yes, didn't feel right either. He finally settled on, "I'll consider it." She seemed satisfied with that answer as she started eating her breakfast. That allowed him to relax in silence.

He looked at the trees surrounding the cabin and saw some birds flying through the branches. He figured Green would like this part of the planet. Thinking about it, like Earth, this planet had something to offer each Lion and Paladin and plenty of space to run military exercises. The local population had been dwindling because of the warlord's rule so they wouldn't have to worry about civilians being too close. Perhaps when they retook the planet they could strike up a deal to allow him to run some war games here.

He finished his sandwich and he looked down at Acxa's empty plate. He took the plate from her to head inside when her hand encircled his wrist and stopped him. She stood to face him.

"I know you saw the picture. Keith please, I'm ready to try again." Acxa looked at him the way she used to look at him when they were together.

She closed the distance between them, wrapped her hands around his neck, pushed her body up against his and kissed him. Her lips felt the same against his and he was thrown back in time to when it was ok to kiss her but he was pulled back quickly when a mental image of a crying Pidge flashed in his mind. She began to nip at his bottom lip asking for entry and that was when he pushed her away angrily.

"We're on a mission. We should focus on that and that only."

He left her standing there.

* * *

The next stage of the plan was infiltrating the War Lord's main base. He had built his base in the middle of a town and then fenced the outskirt of the town building watch towers every hundred feet. From space they were able to map the roads in the town but that was it. They didn't know what the buildings in the town contained or what schedule the guards rotated on. Today was dedicated to gathering that information.

They were going to start with the outer defences and then work clockwise around before penetrating further inside. He and his mom had been assigned to the western side of the area. So far they had seen the guards change in the towers once and observed that there were guards that seemed to pass randomly at the base of the tower on patrol around the village. News soon came over the comms that another team had noticed that there was a tunnel that villagers and guards were emerging from.

"When are you going to ask your mother for advice?" Krolia questioned him.

"When I need it," Keith replied acrimoniously.

"Fair enough, just know I'll stand behind whatever decision you make," she said to him ignoring the tone he had used with her.

Keith nodded.

He hated surveillance missions. Sitting in one spot recording guard movements bored him. His traitorous mind drifted back to the kiss with Acxa. Suddenly, his head started dipping downwards to kiss a shorter person. The hands around his neck became smaller and moved to rest of his shoulders to act as a balance for the shorter person kissing him. His hands moved of their own accord and reached for the backs of the thighs of the shorter person lifting them up to his height. Her hands then slid around his neck to play with the short hairs at the back of his neck. He turned and pressed her against the wall of the cabin. She let out a groan, a groan that very much excited him.

"Keith!"

He snapped out of the daydream immediately and turned to look at his mother.

"The guards just changed," she said pointing to the data recorder that he had carelessly tossed to his side.

Keith used the opportunity to put the data recorder on his lap to hide the definite tightness in his pants. When his mother turned back to look at the patrol Keith mentally scolded himself. What the hell was wrong with him? He was not Lance. He was not supposed to have sexual fantasies in the middle of a mission!

Eventually, Kolivan gave them the go ahead to enter the village, once they had a safe entry point and follow the guards who patrolled the perimeters. He followed his mother's lead and darted for the fence when the guards in the tower looked in the opposite direction. In two seconds they scaled the fence and then darted to hide behind a building. They remained there until they spotted the first patrol. They followed a safe distance behind them, keeping a look out for other patrols and the guards in the towers.

They were on the outskirts on the south side when they saw the guards walk around a hole in the middle of the road. Each guard looked down into the hole and then continued on their way.

"Is that an entrance to the tunnel they spoke about on the comms?" he asked him mother.

"Maybe ," she answered her focus entirely on the guards.

An idea started forming in his head. If he could get into the tunnel safely he could map it and push this mission along faster. His gut liked that idea. His mother followed after the guards. Keith looked around for other guards and saw none. He glanced up at the nearest tower and the guards there seemed to be distracted playing some type of game. He sprinted towards the hole. His mother looked back just in time to see him sliding into the hole.

"Keith!" she said furiously over their comms, "What are you doing?"

"This is our chance to map the tunnel," he stated.

He landed safely on top of some rubble. The light streaming down on him obscured his vision of the tunnel so he stepped into the darkness. His eyes slowly began to adjust while his mother lectured him on being reckless. Around the hole were bracers to hold the ceiling up. The hole must have been created by an accidental cave in. The walls and ground were still dirt so clearly this was an unfinished tunnel.

He turned on his wrist computer to map the tunnel as he walked. He soon came to an intersection and realised that this wasn't one tunnel but a series of interconnecting tunnels under the village. From the data he started gathering he realised that each tunnel led to one of the towers. The tunnels probably started at the base and led outwards. He decided to map the exterior first and then move towards the base.

As he moved towards the base he started to see more activity. He saw a few guards with a group of civilians forcing them to work with cattle prods. They were working on reinforcing the walls with concrete and placing metal flooring on the ground. He saw no security system yet. This could be their entry into the base. He wanted to get into the base but there were too many workers.

He decided to head back to the hole where he knew his mother was waiting impatiently for him. At a cross road he saw a guard beating a procession of workers with a whip. Keith clenched his fist. In his mind's eye he could see himself stopping in front of the workers and grabbing the end of the whip before it hit them. It would sting a little but that didn't matter. He would warp the end of the whip around his left hand, pull his blade out with his right hand and then pull the stunned guard towards him and stab him with his blade but he could not do that because that would alert them to their presence.

He waited a few moments after the end of the line and then stepped out from the side tunnel. He spotted one straggler coming towards him slowly with a pile of rebar and metal sheeting in his arms. The pile was so large he couldn't see where he was going. It was also heavy because he was listing from side to side. The sheeting would touch the wall as he leaned to one side and push him back upright. On the next step he would lean to the next side. Keith pulled tightly against the wall but the man leaned on that side and a piece of the metal sliced through the cloth into his left side. Keith forced himself to remain calm and not cry out. The man hadn't even noticed him and continued to amble along. Keith brought his hand to his side and felt blood. That was a bad sign. He didn't know how deep the wound was and he wasn't in a good place to examine it closely. It became imperative that he make it back to the hole as quick as possible.

* * *

Keith arrived at the base of the hole. The pain in his side radiated but it was tolerable for now. He could climb up the supporting pillars around the hole and then jump and grab on to the rim of the hole and pull himself up.

"Is it clear?" he asked his mom.

"No," she answered angrily. "Two minutes."

While he waited he decided to climb up the pillars. With each stretch of his left hand pain shot through his side. He gritted his teeth and forced his body to work itself up the pillar. He was in pure agony by the time he reached the top and he hoped his mother would be giving him the all clear soon. A few seconds later she gave him the go ahead and jumped and held on to the edge of the hole. It took all his willpower not to cry out as he stretched fully to make it.

The dirt around his hand started to crumble a bit reminding Keith that the rim may not be very stable. He was about to force himself up when his mother's hands enclosed around his wrist and she pulled with all her strength to bring him up.

"You're wounded," his mother said with concern her hands tenderly parting the tear in the fabric to observe the wound. "It's deep. We need to get you back immediately. Is the mission compromised?" she asked.

"No, it was a foolish error," Keith reluctantly admitted looking around.

"Let's get to cover," his mom said, "Another group of guards will be passing in five minutes."

He followed his mom to a nearby building. She radioed in that they were returning to the cabin which raised a lot of questions with his fellow Blade members. Fortunately Kolivan trusted Krolia so he didn't ask any questions and allowed them to return.

"Keith you're losing quite a bit of blood," his mother observed.

"I will make it," he insisted.

"No, I will seal it temporarily with the goo and we'll fix it properly at the cabin," she said already reaching into her bag to pull out the medic goo.

Keith hated the medic goo. It sealed wounds and stopped bleeding but it was a pain for the medics to remove when you got back to base. While it kept you alive, it often made the wound worse. "It will take longer to heal if you do that and I'll have to rest longer," Keith complained.

"Then you should have been more careful and stay on mission," his mother snapped.

Keith angrily glared at her as she parted the tear and applied to the goo to the wound. He felt it expand in his body and seal the wound. It was an odd sensation. You could feel the pressure of the goo but it had an analgesic in it so you didn't feel the pain anymore.

"Keith, I don't know what's wrong but since you arrived you've been off," she stated as she put her arm under Keith's shoulder and hoisted him up.

"Well you should have told Acxa not to blindside me with that picture," he grumbled. He was beginning to feel a bit weak. Keith suggested they get out by the guards that were distracted by the game since it was closer and probably easier to get over the fence. His mother agreed and she guided them to the fence. She helped him over the fence and soon they were in the woods where Keith needed to take a break. He sat down next to a tree.

"If I had known it would affect you like this I would have taken it down when she told me what she did," his mother said sincerely.

"What did you think would happen? That I would just drop Pidge and return to her? Do you even know why we took the break?" he asked his mother.

"No, she never told me," Krolia admitted.

"She wanted me to leave Voltron and lead the Blades with her. I couldn't do that. I could not do that to my team or the Black Lion," Keith explained.

Krolia nodded. "She was always very wary of your connection to your team and in particular the Green Paladin. Seeing how things have turned out so far, maybe she was right."

"She was wrong," Keith insisted angrily. "I was completely and utterly in love with her. Do you remember when I got sick before the K'orth?"

"Yes the Galra purification virus," Krolia said sadly.

The virus was designed by a Galra geneticist who was obsessed with guaranteeing the purity of the Galra race. He believed that all half breeds were to be wiped form the Universe. The version Keith was infected with was his third try and it only affected 50% of the half breeds that came into contact with it.

"I gave Pidge a sample of Acxa's blood to see if the virus would affect her. She was immune but it was also discovered that she was incompatible with me."

"How could she be incomopatible with you?" Krolia asked confused.

"Something to do with my human said and her other side not mixing well," Keith said with a shrug. "We would never be able to have children. I knew that and I still went through with the K'orth," Keith revealed.

"Did you tell Acxa?" Krolia asked.

"No, but I think she figured it out because she stopped taking pregnancy precautions about halfway through our relationship. Pidge got the same scientist that saved me to find a solution to the problem though. It's complicated but if we wanted biological children we could have. I was very dedicated to her. I kept doing Blade missions hoping she would change her mind. She hadn't returned the Knot so I knew there was hope. I so desperately wanted her to change her mind," he said the words just tumbling out of him. He wandered if the goo had some sort of side affect that caused people to talk.

"I never realised," Krolia admitted. "You seemed the same."

"The Blades never realised but the other Paladins knew. They could feel it when we became Voltron. It took some time but I started to get over her. By the time I entered the relationship with Pidge I was ready to move on. I think I've changed mom. I'm no longer the same Keith and I don't know what to do. The old me would have jumped at the chance to reconnect with Acxa but it feels wrong now to jump without looking. I don't want to leave Pidge like that," Keith swallowed hard.

Krolia patted her son's back. "It's ok. You'll always be my son whether or not you're with the Blades. I told you I would support you no matter what. Yes I like Acxa but I never said I didn't like Pidge. If memory serves me correct, she beat you on most of those simulations I prepared for the team."

Keith smiled proudly, even at that young age she was always better than him. Krolia decided he had rested long enough and they soon started the trek to the cabin.

* * *

Keith tried to suppress the moans of pain while the medic worked on removing the goo and healing his wound. To distract himself he pulled up the map of the tunnels he plotted and formulated a new plan to take the base. He knew Kolivan didn't want enter the main base blind but there was only so much intel they could gather.

Keith realised they could enter the tunnels through three of the guard towers and then make their way to the base. They could free some of the slaves and ask them for intel about the base or they could follow some of the workers that left the main compound and pump them for information. Either way, Keith suspected that they could wrap the mission up by tomorrow.

At the thought of finishing the mission early, that unsettling feeling he had since that first night here receded a bit. That was what his gut was telling him to do, wrap the mission early and go home. He didn't know why but that was what it wanted. Maybe it had something to do with Acxa. Maybe he was trying to avoid a confrontation with her.

"Keith," his mother said entering the kitchen.

"Kolivan will be here in three minutes. He's going to want an explanation for your actions," she advised him.

Keith remained silent. He knew how to handle Kolivan. Once he kept his answers relevant to the mission and the success of the mission he would be fine.

A few moments later Kolivan entered accompanied by Acxa.

"You're injured," she said surprised. She moved quickly towards him, her hand tenderly tracing the area the medic was healing. It reminded Keith of the beginning of their relationship when they were tentatively touching each other. She was the first person that touched his skin as if it was the most precious thing in the world. Her tender caresses made him feel loved and he hadn't felt like that since his father had died. Her current touch reminded him of all the good that had been between them, something she had decided to take away from him.

She removed her hand when the medic not so kindly told her to get out of his workspace.

"Is the mission compromised?" was the first thing Kolivan asked.

"I saw an opportunity to survey the tunnels via a cave in and I took it. Here is the completed map of the tunnels," Keith said handing Kolivan the wrist computer with the map.

Kolivan accepted it and glanced through the map, "And the injury?"

"An accident?" Keith responded.

"And the guard?" Kolivan asked assuming a guard inflicted the injury.

"There was no guard involved," Keith reluctantly admitted.

Kolivan arched an eyebrow.

"No one saw me," Keith assured the Blade leader. "We can go in tomorrow and finish this mission."

"Tomorrow?" Kolivan questioned. "Why the sudden rush?"

"We can take the towers and infiltrate the base through the tunnels. There are slaves in the tunnels we can free them and gain intel about the base," Keith shared his plan.

"It sounds like a reasonable plan," Acxa said supporting him.

Kolivan looked at Krolia, "Have you looked at this map yet?"

"No," she answered honestly.

Kovlian looked back at Keith, "We need to analyse this data first before a decision is made."

Keith growled, the feeling inside him not liking that answer but Krolia put her hand on his shoulder, "Be patient my son." He was running very low on patience these days.

Kolivan looked at the medic, "How long will he be on rest?"

"At least until tomorrow night," the medic answered finally finishing up sealing off Keith's wound. There would be a scar and Katie was going to laugh at him when he told her how he got it.

"I'll be fine by tomorrow morning," Keith insisted. He was positive that his presence was needed to push this mission along quicker.

Kolivan ignored him in favour of handing his mother the map and giving her whispered instructions.

"What is that on your shoulder?" Acxa asked pointing to his left shoulder blade.

Keith knew immediately what she was talking about.

"I believe it's called a tattoo," Krolia answered. "Your father had one."

Keith nodded "He did. It was from his military service. That was the only reason I agreed to Lance's idea that as an elite team we should get Voltron tattoos."

"That's the red lion," Acxa further stated.

"Anyone that's served as a Paladin gets the tattoo of the Lion they served in. Lance and I are the only ones that have served in two Lions."

"So where is your tattoo of the Black Lion?" Acxa asked curiously.

"Other shoulder blade," he answered in a bored tone.

Acxa reached for his shirt and pulled it all the way up to see the tattoo of Black. Something about the action suddenly set him on edge. "You could at least ask to see it," he said irritated that she was taking liberties with him again.

"I can," Acxa replied confidently.

Acxa's tone pissed him off, "You cannot. I have a girlfriend."

"I can. She has not fought your mother or me for the right to you," Acxa declared. "I am formally ending our break and resuming our relationship. It's time to prepare for the next stage."

"Acxa I don't think now is the time to discuss this?" Krolia tried to intervene knowing Acxa was pushing Keith too far.

Keith exploded. "You can't just declare we're off break and expect me to fall in line. I have a girlfriend and I'm not going to just dump her. She deserves much better than that. You can't just pull on my shirt or kiss me as you feel like or even enter my room and mess with my stuff! Only Pidge is allowed to do that!"

"I don't see the little Green Paladin challenging me for my rights. I don't even see her trying to participate in Blade missions. Is she afraid?" Acxa mocked.

"It's you who should be afraid Acxa. Out of all the Paladin's Katie is the one with the closest connection to her Lion and Green won't hesitate to rip you to shreds. As for the Blade missions I am the one that actively blocks her from coming. And you know why? Because I don't trust anyone to have her back! In the Blades, its mission first and I can't put her to work with someone who will leave her behind," Keith yelled.

He could see a look of hurt pass over every Blade member in the room at the accusation.

"You think so little of us?" Acxa asked disappointed.

"No, I value her life more than my own," Keith admitted. It was the first time he realised the lengths he would go to for Pidge.

"You had no problem with me working in the Blades," Acxa pointed out.

Keith remained silent. He didn't have an answer to that. "I think this time I'm going invoke the break. I have a lot of things to sort out and I need time to do it. This isn't the place or the time to do it Acxa."

"But," she tried to protest.

"No buts, it is what it is," Keith admitted sadly.

"Acxa I think you should check on the rest of the Blades. We might have to change the shift order to accomodate Keith's injury," Kolivan said trying to bring an end to the disastrous conversation. Keith was grateful.

Acxa openly glared at Kolivan but followed his orders and left the room.

Kolivan exhaled loudly, "This is a mess and in the middle of a mission." He looked at Krolia, "Can you go talk to her and refocus her thoughts on the mission."

Krolia nodded. She gave Keith one last sympathetic look before she left the room as well.

"Are you finished?" Kolivan asked the medic.

"All done now," the medic answered.

Keith knew the medic had been finished a while but had remained to listen to the conversation. Soon every Blade member both here and back at base would have heard what happened.

"Leave us," Kolivan ordered the medic.

After the medic left Kolivan looked at Keith, "At the end of this mission I was going to challenge you for your mother's hand but I have the sneaking suspicion that you won't be very receptive to that."

Keith snorted, "I think I'm going to take the Earth approach from now on. You want to date her, ask her. If you want my blessing, I'll say yes but it's her decision, not mine," Keith said getting up and leaving the room.

* * *

Keith stared at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He turned his body so he could look at the tattoos of Red and Black. They brought a smile to his face. As leader, Keith had gotten his tattoos first. He laid on the table stoically as the tattoo artists worked on both at the same time. Lance volunteered to go next and wanted to do exactly as Keith. The Red Paladin cried like a baby. After he finished the first one, he had to take a break and Hunk stepped up to do Yellow on his arm. After Hunk, Allura volunteered to go next, wanting Blue on her lower back. She actually laughed through the entire procedure. She thought it tickled. Lance stood at the side complaining about his wife's Altean physiology.

After Allura, Pidge decided to go next and save Lance a little bit longer. She had a unique idea for her tattoo. She wanted to place Green on her side, a sort of wrap from the back to the front. Green's tail and back half would be on her back and Green's face and front paws would be on her front. She asked for it on her right side to represent that Green was always standing next to her. Keith liked the representation. Back then, they weren't a couple yet but Keith pulled up a chair next to Pidge as she sat waiting for the artist to begin work. He held her hand in a silent offer of support for her to cope with the pain. She looked up at him with wide honest eyes. She smiled at him and nodded her thanks. He never needed many words with her. They were always good at reading each other.

Keith returned to the bedroom and pulled out his Voltron communicator. He had a very strong urge to talk to Pidge. She was good at calming him. He checked her status first and saw she was still listed as in the lab. That status was there for over 24 hours and he wondered if she hadn't left the lab at all. He checked on the others. Hunk and Lance had returned from their mission but Lance had a weird question in his status.

Lance posted that Cosmo had been spotted several times teleporting around the base. Cosmo may be Keith's wolf but there was no doubt in his mind that his wolf had a very soft spot for Pidge and would do anything she asked, even teleporting around the base to fetch her stuff if she didn't want to leave the lab. It had taken him a while to figure out how the two had grown so close. He still remembered the day he put two and two together.

_Pidge was bent over her workstation feverishly typing into the computer. Shiro had called Pidge in for an urgent mission that required her hacking skills. Keith should have been angry that she was working when he had a special night planned for them, but being the leader of Voltron he knew when duty called you had to answer. So instead of being angry, he decided to bring the date to her instead._

_He paid a visit to Hunk who provided him with everything he needed for a successful dinner date at a restaurant. Keith, with further help from Cosmo, transported everything to Pidge's lab and set it up while she worked. Her assignment had a fixed deadline so he knew what time she would be finished. He laid the table as instructed by Hunk and covered the plates with a fancy metal cover that he was supposed to dramatically lift when Pidge was seated._

_With a fist pump she celebrated her success and Keith knew the mission was over. She turned around to tell him the good news and her jaw fell open in surprise. "You did all that while I was working?"_

" _Yeah figured if duty kept you from the date, I would bring the date to you," he said with what he hoped was a charming smile._

_She smiled fondly at him, "I have the best boyfriend in the Universe!"_

_At her declaration warmth blossomed in his chest. He liked it when she praised him._

" _A seat my lady?" he said pulling a chair out from the table for her to sit._

_Pidge came to the table and he seated her._

" _What's for dinner?" she asked excitedly._

" _Steak," Keith answered removing the cover from her plate. As instructed he fanned the smell of the food towards her._

" _Yummy," Pidge declared._

_He knew she was ready to eat so he moved to his seat and casually removed the cover. He didn't need any of the drama. As soon as he sat she started cutting into one of the two very large steaks on her plate. Hunk had insisted that Pidge would eat two. Keith doubted that but Hunk assured him she would eat all._

_There was hardly any conversation as they both concentrated on eating. Keith was half way through his steak and glanced to check on Pidge's progress and was surprised to find she had finished one steak and had started on the second. He watched her raise a cut piece to her mouth and chew on it happily. How had he never realised that Pidge loved steak so much._

_He glanced away to a piece of equipment in her lab that she received from Renner last week. He was about to ask her if she had used it yet when he saw in the reflective surface Pidge's hand swipe some steak she had cut in strips off her plate and put her hand below the table. He couldn't see what happened to the steak but she wiped her hand on her pants and then returned it to the table. What was going on? He glanced at another reflective surface in the lab and saw her do it again. He moved his chair back and looked under the table. There licking his chops happily was Cosmo._

" _You're the one that's been feeding him! You're the reason that Cosmo always leaves here much heavier than when he arrives!" He had thought Lance was the culprit and had set numerous traps to catch him but he had been wrong._

_Pidge didn't even look ashamed. "Of course. He has to meet his daily caloric requirements. Teleporting requires a fair bit of energy. I was the one that had the vet assess him."_

" _The vet did an assessment?" Keith questioned. Taking Cosmo to the vet was actually something Keith didn't do and he allowed Pidge to do it for him._

" _Yes I wanted to make sure we were treating him right," Pidge said. "You got the report." Cosmo came out from under the table, sat next to Pidge and placed his head on the table as his eyes looked up at Keith._

" _When?" Keith asked surprised. He couldn't remember any report._

" _You were both injured in that Vorsch mission a few years ago. While you were in the hospital Cosmo was being treated at a veterinary hospital. I asked for a full workup to make sure he was ok and if they had any advice."_

_Keith scowled at the mention of that hospital, "Didn't you date a vet there?" he asked going completely off topic._

" _Yes I met him while I stayed with Cosmo. You were unconscious and Acxa was with you so I knew you would be fine but someone had to take care of Cosmo. He refused to allow the nurses there to feed him. He got accustomed to me hand feeding him while he was there and every time you were home he would come to my room at nights for food. I suppose I should have turned him away but I guess I liked his company."_

" _So that's why when I went to collect him I got a long list of do's and don'ts concerning Cosmo," Keith finally realised._

" _It wasn't a list, it was the report!" Pidge stated in disbelief. "I can't believe you didn't realise what it was."_

" _In all fairness I think I was still dosed up on drugs when I got him. I just wanted him out of that place. I didn't realise you had kept him so comfortable. I never thanked you for staying with him," Keith said. It suddenly became clear to him why Cosmo and Acxa didn't get along very well. Pidge treated Cosmo like a member of the family, Acxa treated him like a tamed animal._

" _I didn't need any thanks. He's a part of the team the same way Allura, Lance or any of the others are," Pidge stated reinforcing what Keith had already concluded._

" _That's why you're his favourite," Keith told her with a smile._

_Pidge shrugged innocently. She then picked up the remaining steak placed it flat on her palm and held her hand out. Cosmo moved his head and gently took the steak from her. "I like to think it's because we trust each other."_

" _Wait a minute," Keith said. "That was over five years ago. This has been going on that long!"_

_Both gave him a sheepish look._

" _I'm only now figuring this out!" Keith stated appalled with himself._

" _Don't be so hard on yourself. Cosmo is a teleporting wolf. There's no way for you to keep track of him all the time," she pointed out._

" _So if I didn't have this dinner here I never would have found out," Keith asked a bit miffed._

" _Oh no we were going to tell you, this just gave us the perfect opportunity to do so," she said with a brilliant smile._

Keith realised Pidge would never abuse Cosmo by making him her personal gopher. No something had to be wrong. He never wrote to her during a mission unless it was for Tech assistance but he needed to break that rule now.

_Hey Pidge,_

_Mission is going great. Your programme worked perfectly. I think you would love the little cabin we're staying in. I saw Lance's update about Cosmo. Why is he transporting himself around base? Is everything alright?_

_Keith_

The uneasy feeling seemed to subside a bit now that he made an effort to contact Pidge. He lay back in bed closed his eyes to sleep but the first image his brain provided him with was of Pidge up against the cabin wall, her feet locked around his waist, her hands around his neck and his tongue battling furiously with hers. He pulled the pillow from underneath his head and placed it over his face and screamed into it. He did not need another erotic dream about Pidge while on a mission! He really needed to figure out why his emotions were ping ponging all over the place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.


	6. Day 2 - Pidge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender.

Pidge was awoken by hands shaking her shoulder. She immediately tried to push the person away from her. Keith would never wake her up like that. The hands pulled away from her and she sat up quickly and looked around in a panic.

"Dr. Holt, relax," a voice she recognised as Fletcher said.

It took her a second to remember what had happened the previous day.

"Sleep time is over. The Broker approved the incursion into the manor today. The next scheduled period of darkness is in 8 hours. Get your plan together," he ordered her.

"Good morning to you too Mr. Sunshine," Pidge said dryly. "I feel like I've barely slept at all," probably because she spent most of the time trying to figure out a way to get her message to Green across the GCS, "And I'm hungry."

"Report to Tinta and Froyo. I'll bring your breakfast to you," Fletcher indicated turning to leave the room.

"Can I, you know, use the bathroom, brush my teeth, comb my hair, take care of personal hygiene stuff or am I supposed to ignore all that? I don't know what the protocol is. I've never been a hostage before," Pidge punctuated her question with a giant yawn and a stretch of her arms.

Fletcher paused on this way to the door and actually laughed. "Dr. Holt in all my years doing this I've never had anyone as cheeky as you."

"Well I do strive to be different," she informed him.

Fletcher left her alone and she became aware of some of the men on the other bunks watching her. If they decided to try anything with her she would make sure they ended up losing an important part of the male anatomy.

She grabbed her stuff and headed to the bathroom. Fletcher was kind enough to have packed enough clean underwear for her to last her time period there. He really must be experienced at doing this. Once she freshened up she returned to Froyo and Tinta.

"About time," Froyo grumbled. "Wasting time on sleep, you have no idea how much productivity has been lost!"

"Ignore him," Tinta said. "His race doesn't require a rest cycle when they are healthy. It's one of the reasons their species is sought out to work."

"Three vargas is too long for a rest cycle," Froyo continued to complain.

"Three vargas! That's all the sleep he gave me?" Pidge complained.

"You wanted more?" Tinta asked amazed.

"The optimum sleep should be six vargas but it varies with each individual. When I'm busy I will go for as long as I can and then when I need to sleep I'll set the alarm for three vargas and then get up again to continue my work," she explained to them.

"Six vargas! How preposterous," Froyo said shaking his head furiously. He couldn't understand why so much rest was needed.

"How long do you sleep for?" she asked Tinta.

"My species requires three vargas every thirteen quintants. Your species would make terrible workers, too many requirements," Tinta noted.

Fletcher walked through the door, "Less chit chatting and more planning. We have," he paused to look at his watch, "Seven and a half hours of daylight left."

"Hours?" Froyo said confused.

"An hour is a unit of time on Earth. It is a little less than a varga." Pidge looked at the plate Fletcher had brought. There was something that looked like a cheeseburger on it, "That's breakfast!"Pidge commented.

"You barely ate anything yesterday your system will need energy if we're to break into the security system at the manor today. I don't need you falling over halfway there," he said with an annoying smirk.

"Yes Dictator," Pidge snarkily saluted.

She picked up the burger and started eating while Froyo watched in disgust. "What's wrong this time?" Pidge asked.

"His species only eat green leafy plants. If it doesn't look like that they get really snippy," Tinta explained to her.

"Well I'll just eat my burger over here," Pidge said turning her back to the judgemental alien. She reminded herself that Froyo had a difficult life and from his perspective she was the odd one.

When she finished with the burger she washed her hands and returned to her work station.

"Paladin," Tinta started, "If, and that is a big if, you get into the security system how are you going to transmit the information back and forth?"

"You don't have any communication gear I can hook into the system?" she asked astonished.

"No, does this look like a tech store?" Froyo asked caustically.

"Then we'll just have to build it from parts," Pidge stated not seeing the problem.

"Build!" Froyo exclaimed, "That won't work."

Pidge smirked, "Once, I was stuck alone with only the Green Lion in a massive space junk yard. I built a communication device out of all the spare parts to send a signal to the Castle of Lions to rescue us. The ship was stuck in a worm hole time loop but my signal managed to knock them out of it. If I could do that then, then I'm sure getting something built to transmit data back and forth a few hundred metres won't be a problem."

"But..." Tinta started.

"Watch and learn," she said with a large grin.

* * *

Three hours later Pidge was almost finished with both devices, one to connect at the compound and one to connect to their system here. Fletcher had actually helped her source all the necessary parts and tools she needed. He seemed to enjoy working with his hands and helping her take apart some items to get the tech she needed. Her companions were astounded at her resourcefulness and creativity.

"This is truly amazing and elegant," Froyo declared as he studied her design.

Pidge beamed at the praise. "Humans may need more rest and nourishment than you but we are really resourceful, innovative and determined. If Hunk were here the design would be flawless. He's the engineer."

Pidge turned on one of the devices to perform a test run when everything in the room started going haywire.

"What the hell?" she asked thinking she had caused all the electronic equipment to go haywire.

"Oh that's just the daily solar flares," Froyo complained. He pulled up a holographic of the solar system they were in. Because of the flare it flickered on and off frequently but Pidge still manage to spot where the GCS was at the edge of the system but she wasn't sure which planet they were on.

"Where are we exactly?" Pidge asked innocently.

"This rock here," Froyo answered zooming in on the flickering image to a brown planet and then zooming further to show their little village. Pidge forced herself not to smile. Now that she knew exactly where the GCS was located in relation to her current position it would make it easier for her to send her message.

"The flares mess with everything. In a few minutes everything will be back to normal," Tinta explained.

As promised everything started working properly again but then they heard a ruction down the hall followed by a loud booming voice. She watched Froyo and Tinta freeze in fear. The ruction was followed by heavy footsteps walking in the corridor. The closer it got to their door the more Froyo and Tinta started to tremble in fear. Whoever was causing the noise walked past the room and the two exhaled in relief.

"What was that?" Katie asked.

"That was probably Igorit. There were rumours that The Broker retained his services," Tinta answered with a solemn look.

"Who is Igorit?" Pidge asked dumbly. She got the impression she was missing something very big.

"You don't know who Igorit is?" they both asked in disbelief. It was interesting how different each species showed surprise. Tinta's multicoloured brows raised high and his pupils widened while the outer edges of Froyo's eyebrows rose making a \/ on his head.

Pidge sighed, "If I knew would I be asking?"

"He's a Rogan, surely you have at least heard about their species?" Froyo asked sarcastically.

She had heard of them. Supposedly the Rogan were a strong warrior race that not even the Galra could conquer. The only thing that prevented them from dominating the universe was there numbers. It took one hundred years for a single female to reach sexual maturity and even then she was only fertile once every five years.

"I thought they were a myth. Sendak said they had never come across a planet they couldn't conquer," Pidge explained relating the information they had drawn from Sendak's memories.

"The Rogan no longer live on their original planet. It was decimated in the fighting over females to reproduce with. They are now nomadic," Tinta explained to her.

"So they never found another planet to settle on?" Pidge asked.

"They evolved to travel in packs. Igorit is the head of his pack and all the Rogan below him submit to him. His pack consists mainly of females and his sons who haven't reached sexual maturity yet. When his sons mature he kicks them out. When his daughters mature he'll send them to another pack. It keeps the packs from fighting for females. It took them over a millennia to realise that the fighting for females was killing them. In my opinion they aren't very bright but they are ridiculously strong. In the last three centuries their numbers have start to grow again."

"Why is he here?" Pidge asked.

"He's a mercenary for hire. One of him is equivalent to six trained Galra soliders. The Broker hired him to ensure we are successful. We've worked with him before. After he goes through a place, there's not much left in terms of both life and structure," Tinta said woefully.

The door opened and Fletcher entered. She noticed he was wearing two extra guns and a large knife attached to his leg. His eyes shifted in the direction the Rogan went. He clearly didn't trust him. "Dr. Holt, you are only to leave this room when I tell you," he informed her of the new rule.

"What changed?" Katie asked already knowing the answer.

His eye shifted again, "We have some new company that arrived earlier than expected."

The Broker appeared behind Fletcher, his grey eyes honing in on the device that she was working on. "Is it ready yet?" he asked as he walked up to take a closer look at the device.

"Almost," was Pidge's reply.

"Will it be ready on time?" The Broker pressed.

"If people stop asking me if it will be ready, it will be ready," she snapped.

"Excellent work Dr. Holt," he ignored the tone she took with him, "I knew you would turn out to be a fantastic investment."

Pidge scowled. She did not like being talked about as an object. She was not a fixed asset that grew in value as she aged. She was a human being with lots of thoughts, ideas and feelings.

The Broker's grey eyes slide to Fletcher's blues, "Will you require Igorit?"

"No," Fletcher responded tersely.

"We cannot afford for anything to happen to Dr. Holt," The Broker stated harshly.

"Understood," Fletcher replied gruffly.

The Broker walked back to the door placed his hand on the door knob and then looked back at Fletcher, "How is Emma doing in her new school I understand her teacher is a bit hard on her. She failed her on her last hand handwriting test."

Fletcher stiffened immediately. "She's fine."

"Good," The Broker said with a large smile.

When Pidge was sure The Broker was out of hearing range she looked at Fletcher, "You don't have a chip?" she concluded from the interaction.

"You don't need a chip when someone has a child," he responded. He glanced at his watch, be ready to move in four and a half hours."

* * *

Froyo and Tinta fussed over her as she prepared to leave. Froyo had already gone through the checklist of items four times and wanted to do it a fifth time while Tinta wanted to walkthrough the hack again. They were invading her personal space and she felt like she needed a bat to beat them away from her. Even Keith, the person whom she shared the most intimacy with, knew to give her space before a mission.

Just as she was about to pull her hair out, Fletcher arrived with a large tray of green shrubbery in one hand and what looked like a milk shake in the other.

"Sustenance!" Tinta declared happily taking the shake immediately. He took a sip and she could swear his red complexion got brighter. "You remembered my favourite! You truly are the best of all my masters!"

Fletcher grumbled, "Remember to watch our backs out there. No more me means no more of your favourites."

That was bribery! Pidge could see so clearly how well he manipulated the people he worked with to get the outcomes that he desired.

"Will do, the device the Paladin built also allows us to keep track of the drones and guards. I'll get you there and back safely," he boasted before putting the straw to his mouth again and slurping up some more of whatever was in that glass.

Fletcher placed the tray in front of Froyo where he buried his head in it like a dog. For such a small being he sure ate ferociously.

"Let's go," Fletcher said to her.

She picked up her bag with the gear and followed Fletcher into the corridor where they came to an abrupt stop. She looked past Fletcher to see what looked like a wall made of grey flesh in the way.

"Sweet smell," the wall said in a deep baritone.

It moved and she could make out arms locked tightly at his side, feet pushed together by the small space in the corridor, and a head hunched over because he was too tall for the 8 foot ceiling. The being started bending down towards them to get a better look. This being in front of them had to be the Rogan, Igorit.

"Dr. Holt, reverse into the room. Let's let our friend pass," Fletcher said in a false pleasant tone.

Pidge didn't need to be told twice. In all her years as a Paladin she had never felt the need to call Green but looking at that Rogan she wished she had Green by her side. His arms were bigger than her entire body.

"Sweet," his deep voice said again. His hand tried to reach passed Fletcher to touch her but she darted into the room just in time to avoid him. Fletcher followed behind her and stood in the doorway with his large gun in his hand as he watched Igorit walked loudly passed.

"How come we didn't hear him the first time?" Pidge asked. Surely they would have heard him in the corridor.

"Because he wanted to sneak up on us. They only stomp when they want to intimidate their prey," Fletcher explained to her. His head was still watching down the corridor in the direction the Rogan went.

"How does he get through the doors?" Pidge asked. She couldn't imagine him getting into the rooms without breaking a larger whole in the doorways.

"They are surprisingly agile for their size. Once they get their head and shoulders through a space, the rest of the body follows. Let's go. He's gone."

Pidge stepped back into the empty corridor with Fletcher and headed to the room she had first come through. The bar was open and from what she could see there were numerous patrons. There were two beings behind the bar and three servers on the floor. Some beings were dancing to music she could faintly hear. There had to be some excellent sound padding to keep the noise out of the back.

* * *

Pidge stepped outside into the cool fresh air. Half the sky was dark and she turned to look at the lighter side. Both suns were slowly dipping below the horizon. She watched in awe as the sky turned various magnificent colours as the light from the different suns mixed. She felt a deep ache within her bones to share the view with Keith. She allowed herself a moment to imagine him standing by her side, his arm wrapped around her waist, and her head leaning against his toned arm. No words would be needed, just the other's presence as they enjoyed the moment.

"Ahem, you should be moving," Tinta's voice said in her ear.

"Right," Pidge agreed. She pulled up the map of the area on her wrist computer. Fletcher had input a route that while a bit roundabout, avoided all the patrolling centuries. She glanced back at her abductor to find him appreciating the sunset as well. "Didn't take you for the type to like sunsets," she muttered.

"I wasn't. My daughter is the one that's fond of them," he pointed his gun in the direction that they should move.

Pidge took the hint and started walking. Fletcher fell into step next to her and she side-eyed him. At the risk of upsetting him she let her curiosity get the better of her. "How old is your daughter?"

"More walking and less talking," Fletcher snapped at her.

Pidge sighed; she knew she was pushing her luck to get any sort of decent conversation out of him. She pulled her pack up higher on her shoulder and continued following the path on her wrist computer.

Fletcher's route to the mansion was perfect. They didn't come across a single guard or drone until they reached the manor where there were several drones patrolling the outside as well as aliens she didn't recognise.

"I can hack the drones but what do we do about the guards?" Pidge asked Fletcher.

"Tinta," Fletcher said gruffly, "Contact Fisher and give him the go ahead on the diversion."

Pidge looked at Fletcher for an explanation but none was needed because a short while later a building exploded in the village.

"I thought we weren't supposed to attract attention to ourselves?" Pidge asked worriedly. One would think that a building exploding in the middle of town would be a huge indicator that someone was trying to take over your operation.

"We aren't. This happens quite regularly here. One of the tasks he has his slaves perform is the development of explosives. Naturally, since they are untrained labour, mishaps happen," Fletcher explained no hint of emotion in his voice.

"How many people did you just kill?" Pidge asked horrified.

"It's just a drop in the bucket for me darling," Fletcher replied nonchalantly. He really felt no remorse for what he had done.

She looked angrily at Fletcher, "There must have been another way."

Fletcher gave her a wry smile, "Not when you're dealing with monsters. The guards are moving into the village now. We need to move," Fletcher said pointing to the spot in the wall they were going to climb over.

Pidge glanced around and sure enough most of them were being diverted to the village. They move quickly and quietly towards the wall. Fletcher offered a boost to get over the wall but Pidge stubbornly climbed it herself with rope and grappling hook. They made their way to base of the security tower where there was a junction box. Pidge opened the box and started patching everything into her device. She had to splice a few communication wires as well as divert some power to the device. In her haste to move quickly she accidentally shocked herself. Fletcher covered her mouth as she cursed out loud. She shook her fingers out to relieve the pain.

"All good now?" he asked.

Pidge nodded her head.

"Get back to work," he ordered.

Pidge forced herself to focus on finishing the installation of the device. When she was finished she asked Tinta to sync the devices and confirm they had access to the manor. It took Tinta a little longer than she thought to get everything in order but eventually she received the all clear to return.

It took twice as long to get back to the bar because of all the extra guards in the village and they had to rely entirely on Tinta to get them back in safely. At certain points, the wind would blow the smell of smoke, chemicals and burnt flesh in the air. She had to force herself not to throw up. On one street she saw what looked like a body part. Even with all her experience fighting the Galra the sight made her sick to her stomach.

* * *

Pidge was actually happy to step inside the back entrance of the bar away from the tragedy outside. Unfortunately she stepped out of the frying pan straight into the fire.

"Sweet," Igorit's deep voice bellowed sniffing the air. The Rogan was seated on the crates cleaning the biggest gun Pidge had ever laid eyes on. Lance would totally be jealous of it. He lifted his head to survey her critically.

Pidge came to a complete stop. Fletcher was still outside talking with his men. She held her head high and showed no fear. She calculated the length of his arm and determined the best path to avoid him. She moved away from him but he moved quickly and his large hand clasped around her arm pulling her towards him. Someone so big shouldn't be so fast and agile.

"Sweet," he said sniffing the air around her. His breath stank.

The pressure his hand exerted on her arm was far stronger than any other being had ever exerted on her. She tried not to but she whimpered in pain. Igorit seemed to realise he was hurting her and loosened his grip a bit.

"Fragile," he noted curiously. There was almost a soft edge to his voice there as if he actually cared that she was in pain.

"Let go of me," Pidge demanded bravely.

"You are female," he said. "I can use a new female in my pack."

"One, I'm not for sale," Pidge said. "And two, I'm not even your species."

"Everyone's for sale," he replied. "I'm sure I can offer The Broker a suitable offer for you."

"I think not," Pidge noticed a large blade next to him and she tried to reach for it with her other hand but he stopped her with his free hand.

"There's a fire within you. Females don't challenge me. I like it," he said thrilled.

"Let her go," Fletcher demanded. He was standing by the door, a gun in each hand, pointed directly at them.

"If you fire, you might hit her," Igorit commented.

"I don't miss," Fletcher said in a deadly serious tone.

The Broker entered the room and glanced between the parties.

"Fletcher did you lose your charge?" he asked. It was said in a neutral tone but Pidge got the distinct impression that the Broker was not pleased with this turn of events.

"No, a member of your team decided to interfere," Fletcher threw back at The Broker.

The Broker looked at Igorit. He seemed to be weighing his options. He was probably deciding who was more valuable, she or Igorit.

"Igorit, I did not bring you here to hold on to Dr. Holt. That is Mr. Fletcher's responsibility," The Broker chastised.

"Perhaps we should renegotiate our deal," Igorit proposed.

"You know where my office is," The Broker stated turning to leave. He stopped, "You need to keep a better watch on your charge Fletcher. Mistakes like this are very costly," he reprimanded.

Igorit let go of Pidge, stood and made his way out of the room.

"Why do I feel like things just got more complicated?" she asked. She pulled off her jacket and pulled up the sleeve of her shirt to see a massive red mark left by the Rogan.

"I have an ice pack for that," Fletcher offered.

They stepped out into the corridor and Pidge saw the last part of Igorit's massive body making its way through the door at the end of the corridor. That was probably where The Broker's office was. She looked into the bar while she made her way to the kitchen and noted it was completely deserted. The explosion must have chased all of the customers away.

"From now on you go where I go," Fletcher commanded placing the ice pack he had retrieved from the freezer on her arm.

They left the kitchen and returned to her workstation where she verified that the device was working well. The next stage of the operation was to gain complete control of the security systems. Pidge wanted to delay her work on that part and requested a nap. She was surprised when Fletcher agreed.

* * *

She lay in the same bunk and concentrated on sending her message through the GCS. Igorit's interest in her complicated things and she felt she needed Green's help more than ever. There was no way she could take the Rogan on her own.

"Fletcher," she called softly.

"Yes," he answered from the bunk below her.

"Do Rogan's have any weaknesses?" she asked curiously. She needed as much information as possible to be prepared.

"In one on one combat they are far superior to humans. I've heard rumours about a blaster to a point in their back knocking them out but I have yet to verify that. If we could convince Igorit to stand still for testing we might be able to determine if that's true," he said wryly.

Pidge actually laughed. If she was going to come out of this alive she needed to focus on her strengths. "What about things like sound? Is there a special frequency they are susceptible to?"

"I don't know. I can ask for a sonic generator to be brought in and we can test it out," Fletcher offered.

"Maybe we can get a chip in him?" she thought hopefully.

"He'll have to be unconscious for that and I don't know if the needle will penetrate his skin," Fletcher pointed out. "Get some rest. The Rogan is not your problem to deal with."

Pidge closed her eyes and refocused on the GCS. Igorit may not be her problem right now but she had a strong feeling that come day five he would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.


	7. Day 2 - Keith

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender. I was trying to get this posted before Season 8 but I'm glad it worked out this way. I was able to incorporate some small details from the last season in here and change Shiro's husband to Curtis.
> 
> We're back to Keith in this chapter. The last we left him he was trying to sleep after having sent a message to Pidge.

Keith used every mediation technique he had ever learned to calm his mind and emotions. Eventually he reached to that magic point where his mind cleared and he slowly entered a dream state. He was back in Red flying through a challenging asteroid field. Zigging right, zagging left, rising up or plunging down to get around the various rocks. He was still the best pilot among the Paladins and dare he say the entire Garrison. No one could match his times and skills. He always completed this field way ahead of the other pilots. He cleared the rock that looked like a snail and faced the largest of all the asteroids in the centre of the field. He took a path to the right around the asteroid but then spotted the Green Lion sitting on its surface. What was Pidge doing out there? She didn't take part in these training exercises.

Something stirred in his gut about Pidge and he decided to hail Green. There was no response from Green which unsettled him further. He decided to land and forget about getting the fastest time. He exited Red and used his jet thrusters to get him over to Green. The Lion refused to let him in which angered Keith. He needed to know where Pidge was. He turned to head back to Red to do a scan of the asteroid when a flash of light to his right caught his attention.

He suspected that could be Pidge and he changed his course to investigate. The closer he got to the light source it became clear that Pidge was fighting with Zarkon. Keith immediately increased his speed. Zarkon was using the Black Paladin's bayard against Pidge. She was barely holding her own when Zarkon knocked her feet out from under her and then picked her up by her throat. He then turned to look directly at Keith, "You're too late boy," he said as he snapped her neck like a twig.

"NOOOOO!" Keith screamed as he awoke covered in sweat.

The other Blade members in the room with him told him in not so polite terms to get out if he couldn't sleep. Keith grabbed his communicator and left the room. Once outside the room, he leaned against the door and checked the communicator. He was hoping for a response from Pidge but was sorely disappointed when he didn't see any message from her. He looked at the time; he had sent her the message over four hours ago.

He tried to work out a reasonable explanation that would explain why Pidge hadn't responded yet. He couldn't come up with any. She always responded to him within two hours and since he started dating her, half an hour max. Something was wrong. Something was preventing her from responding to him.

He needed to call Lance. He scrolled through his contacts on his communicator until he found Lance's name. Next to it was that ridiculous picture Lance had taken of himself in a bright yellow shirt and straw hat. His smile was ludicrously wide and Keith swore his teeth sparkled. He pressed call. He hoped he was close enough to a relay so that there was no delay in transmission between him and Lance.

"Hello," Lance's slightly out of breath voice said over the comms. The connection sounded good.

"Lance, I need you to check on Pidge," Keith stated. There was a few seconds delay before he heard Lance's response.

"Keith?" Lance questioned.

"Go and check on Pidge," he repeated.

"Do you know what time it is here or what you're interrupting?" Lance asked angrily.

"Lance, I don't care what the blasted time is or if you're trying to make another baby with Allura. As the Black Paladin I'm ordering you to find the Green Paladin," Keith declared harshly.

"Keith," Allura's soft voice said. She must have taken the communicator from Lance, "What is this about?"

Keith found himself answering her question, "I sent Pidge a message and she hasn't responded. It's not like her even if she's busy she always responds," Keith insisted.

Before Allura could reply he heard the doorbell ring in the background and Lance began to curse about the time and interruptions to their alone time.

"Lance, put some clothes on while I go see who is at the door," Allura suggested.

Keith imagined her wrapping the night robe Hunk had gifted her for her birthday around herself and walking to the door. She must have walked with the communicator because Keith could hear the door opening.

"Veronica?" Allura questioned.

"Yeah, where's my brother?" she asked in a dry tone.

"What do you need Lance for?" Allura asked. Keith suspected she would have moved aside to let Veronica in and they would now be in the small living area in Lance's quarters.

"Matt wants me to get into Pidge's lab and wake her up. He thinks she's sleeping there since she hasn't responded to some question he asked her," Veronica said tiredly. It sounded like she yawned at the end.

"Lance," Allura called for her husband worriedly.

"What is it now?" Lance groaned.

"Go and check on Pidge. It can't be a coincidence that both Keith and Matt are worried," Allura stated wisely.

"Seriously? How many times do I have to tell Keith and Matt that Pidge may be small but she's tougher than the metal that makes up Voltron!" Lance declared.

"Honey, we all know that but that doesn't stop us from worrying about her. We have always trusted Keith's instincts and if he thinks something is wrong then we have a duty to investigate," Allura said.

"Fine," Lance declared. "But I'm positive Pidge is busy working on some techy something and forgot her communicator in her room. It wouldn't be the first time she did it that."

"Pidge didn't forget her comm that time, she purposely left it behind so you wouldn't bother her. Take your comm with you," Keith insisted. He wanted to be there step by step.

"Keith?" Veronica questioned. She probably hadn't realised that he was on the line with Allura.

"How long has Matt been trying to get in contact with Pidge?" he asked her.

"About six hours," she answered.

Keith's mind started playing all sorts of horror images for him. Pidge lying on the ground in her lab bleeding, begging for help after something went wrong or Pidge with a tool sticking out of her chest cause she tripped and fell on it.

"Lance get moving," Keith growled.

"I'm moving, I'm moving but I'm sure you guys are overreacting," Lance said confidently.

"Overreacting!" Keith exclaimed, "I am not overreacting. Let me remind you of all the times you overreacted. There was the time when Allura sneezed and you thought you she had the phalax contagion, there was the time that Allura went for a walk on the planet Kryzo and you thought she was kidnapped, then there was the time that..."

"Ok I get your point," Lance snapped.

"Besides, weren't you the one that posted something was up with Cosmo? Don't you think Pidge would have taken him to the vet if something was wrong?" Keith pointed out.

"Maybe she's at the vet with Cosmo right now?" Lance suggested.

"Not likely, I briefly glanced him in the Peace Quad as I was coming over here," Veronica stated. "I did think it was strange he was out so late. Isn't he always curled up on Pidge's feet?"

"Pidge's feet get cold in the lab. While he keeps them warm for her she'll use her toes to massage his body. She calls it the perfect symbiotic relationship," Keith said, a small smile pulling at his face. Cosmo and Pidge's fantastic relationship made things so easy for him. He had no idea what he would do if they didn't get along.

"Gosh it's cold out here. I should have walked with my jacket," Lance complained.

The minutes Keith had to wait for Lance to get to the lab were agonising. He slid down the wall and sat there in the corridor. Several Blade members passed him by and curiously glanced at him but he ignored them all. The longer he waited for Lance the worst the feeling in his gut became.

"Ok I'm here," Lance declared.

He heard Lance punching in the code on the keypad.

"Pidge can you..." Lance started before he came to an abrupt half.

"What is it?" Keith asked frantically, "Is she ok? Is she hurt?"

"She isn't here. Her communicator is on the counter but some of her tech is gone. She never takes tech out of this lab," Lance said worriedly. "She has her second lab in Green's hanger that she uses for missions. This isn't good."

"How do I tell Matt or her parents that she is missing?" Veronica asked.

Keith pushed aside thoughts of Pidge's family. "Veronica, I need you to go to Shiro and explain the situation. Curtis should be able to determine when was the last time Pidge swiped through security. Lance, I want you to call Hunk and ask him to check Pidge's room then I want you to go to Green's hanger. We need to make sure she isn't anywhere on base. Add Veronica to the call so we can all keep in touch," Keith ordered.

"Affirmative," they both confirmed.

* * *

While Keith waited he decided to move out of the corridor and head down to the kitchen. The bathroom definitely wasn't an option. He expected to find his mother or Kolivan there but there were only two junior Blade members eating.

"Find somewhere else to eat," he ordered meanly.

They looked up at him shocked.

"I need the room for a private security matter. You don't have clearance so get out," Keith ordered.

The Blade members quickly grabbed their plates and left. Keith sat heavily on a chair, placed his elbows on the table and rested his head in both hands. He closed his eyes and pictured Pidge.

"That was kind of mean," Veronica pointed out across the communicator. Keith had forgotten to mute his end.

"It was true. This is Paladin business," Keith replied gruffly.

"But you didn't have to be so rude about it," Lance added.

"I didn't ask for your opinions. Can you concentrate on finding Pidge instead?" Keith grumbled. He had this insane urge to cross his fingers and hope that Lance found her in Green's hanger but that feeling in his gut told him that wasn't going to happen. He hated that his instincts were always right.

Lance arrived at Green's hanger first. "Green is here and so is Cosmo, who is growling at Green," Lance said confused. "But I don't see her anywhere," Lance admitted worriedly.

Keith sighed heavily, "Any word from Hunk yet?"

"No," Lance answered in a defeated tone. Keith realised the ever optimistic Lance was beginning to understand that something might have happened to Pidge.

"I'm at Shiro's door," Veronica informed them.

Keith imagined she pressed the buzzer and was waiting for either Shiro or Curtis to answer the door. He heard the door open and then heard Shiro's voice, "What's wrong Veronica?"

"We think Pidge is missing," she blurted out. "I have Keith and Lance on the line. Lance has already ruled out her lab and Green's lab. We are waiting on Hunk to confirm she isn't in her room. Both Matt and Keith tried to get in contact with her and there's been no response for hours. There's also equipment missing from her lab in the Commander Samuel Holt building. I checked the logs, there's no off world mission assigned to her. She's supposed to be entirely focused on the GCS relay system."

"Come in," Shiro said urgently. "Who was the last person to see her?"

"I think it was the girls at the club," Keith answered.

"That was over a day ago," Veronica stated in disbelief, "she left early to come back here. Someone must have seen her after us."

"Curtis," Shiro called for his husband. Curtis had moved on from the IGF Atlas and had become the head of Garrison Security, "We have an incident. Dr. Katie Holt is missing."

There was silence on the line before he heard Curtis join them and start interrogating Veronica about Pidge's last known location and the last person she had contact with.

"I just heard from Hunk," Lance interrupted, "She's not at his place or in her room. The only other options are her parent's or Keith's."

"She doesn't go in my room when I'm not there and it's the same for her parents. Are they still off world?" Keith asked.

"Yes, Sam and Colleen are still away," Veronica confirmed.

"Then we have no idea where she is," Lance concluded. "This isn't good. Pidge is always the one to find us. How do we find her?"

"I'm coming home," Keith announced.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Veronica asked.

"The Blades can handle this mission without me. Pidge is the priority," Keith stated rising from his chair in the kitchen. He needed to find Kolivan.

"We'll turn this base upside down looking for her," Shiro assured him.

"Keep me posted. As soon as I'm in position, I'll radio Allura with the coordinates for a wormhole."

* * *

Keith searched through the cabin looking for Kolivan but he couldn't find him. He found the same two Blade members he had chased out of the kitchen sitting outside the cabin. They informed him that Kolivan was monitoring the movements of the guards on the south side of the village and he had ordered radio silence. Keith let loose a string of curses because that meant that Keith couldn't call Kolivan. He would have to go back to the village and find him delaying him from leaving by up to an hour as the village was in the opposite direction to the ships.

Keith packed his gear in record time and moved quickly to the village. The wound in his side started to hurt but he ignored it. He was the master of his body and he would not let something as petty as a wound slow him down. It took him half an hour to reach the south side of the village and a further ten minutes to find Kolivan, who was perched in a tree with his mom on the branch next to him. He remembered what Kolivan had asked him about his mother the night before but he quickly pushed it away. Now wasn't the time to contemplate what a relationship between the two of them would mean for him.

Even though he was sure the elder Galra knew he was there, Keith still loudly cleared his throat to get his attention.

Kolivan's head slowly turned away from the village and glanced down at him, "Aren't you supposed to be resting?" The disapproval was clear in his voice.

"I need to go. There's an emergency at the Garrison. I'm going to take a ship," Keith stated.

"What sort of emergency?" Krolia asked concerned.

"The Green Paladin is missing. She might have been taken. My presence is required there immediately," Keith explained with a calm, neutral voice. He didn't want them to know how worried he was.

"Do you think it's wise to go considering your connection to her?" Kolivan questioned.

Anger rose in him immediately, how dare he imply that Pidge was better off without him looking for her. He clenched his fists and forced his voice to remain neutral, "I am the leader of the Paladins. A member of my team is missing. I have a duty and responsibility to find her."

"Very well, if you need any assistance let us know," Kolivan said turning his attention back to the village.

Keith nodded. It was time to go.

"Keith," his mother said softly.

"I have to go. Every minute wasted could mean ..." Keith stopped himself right there. He didn't want to think about Pidge being close to death and he definitely didn't want to voice that thought out loud.

He turned his back to her and started the four and a half hour trek to the location where they had parked the ships. Shiro sent a message confirming that Pidge hadn't been found anywhere on base and Curtis had filed an official missing person report. He assured him that the case was top priority and that no stone would be left unturned.

Keith glanced down at the bracelet on his hand and pushed himself harder to get to the ship. His entire being was focused on what he had to do over the next few hours.

Step 1: Get to the ship.

Step 2: Fly onto the other side of the sun in this system. That should mask the wormhole and not compromise the Blade's mission.

Step 3: Contact Allura with the coordinates to open a wormhole.

Step 4: Fly through the wormhole.

Step 5: Pilot to the Garrison and land.

Keith cycled through those steps in his head. It helped him keep a tight cap on his emotions. If he allowed his mind any leeway he knew he would start thinking about all the dangerous scenarios Pidge could have gotten herself into. Thinking about her in danger without the Paladins to support her made him angry and his decisions were never good when he let his anger rule unrestrained. If Pidge needed him she needed his head clear and focused.

* * *

By the time Keith got back to Earth half the day had finished. Both Matt and her parents had returned before him and everyone was in Shiro's office discussing the case. He didn't even bother to knock on the door and just barged right in. Shiro was behind his desk talking with Sam and Colleen who were both seated in front of it. Hunk and Romelle were by the window. Romelle had her hand placed gently on her fiancé's shoulder to comfort him. Lance, Allura, Veronica and Matt were off to the side arguing. It sounded like Matt was upset that they had returned from the club and hadn't bothered checking to see if his sister had gotten back safely.

Keith pulled his bracelet off his hand and approached the yellow Paladin, "Hunk the bracelet Pidge is wearing has a tracker in it. I don't know how it works but I do know that you can use this one to find her. I always thought it would be Pidge using hers to find me. I never wanted this scenario to ever occur."

"Pidge's system in Green's hanger is a copy of the one from her lab. I'll use that one," Hunk said leaving with Romelle immediately. Keith noticed a sour look pass between Hunk and Matt. Something had happened between them before he arrived. He would find out about that later.

Keith turned to Shiro, "What has Curtis turned up so far?"

"He is on his way back with the security footage from the club that night," Shiro explained.

"ETA?" Keith asked.

"Walking through the door," Curtis said. "I got the footage. We should review this in the conference room."

"Agreed," Keith said.

Everyone followed Curtis out the door down to the conference room where they had all their mission briefings. Curtis inserted the footage into the computer and pulled up the camera view from the dance floor first. He started at the beginning of the night and then fast forwarded through the footage.

"There we are," Allura pointed at the screen.

Curtis slowed down the speed to normal time.

"Where is Pidge?" Shiro asked.

"The three of us were on the dance floor and we left Pidge at the table," Veronica said scanning the screen intently, "There!" she pointed to the right side of the screen where Pidge was half caught in the frame. "We left her there and didn't see her again."

Curtis noted the time on the footage and pulled up the view from another camera that covered the tables. He forwarded through the footage to the correct time. Seeing Pidge on the screen caused an intense ache in Keith. She looked so beautiful with her hair pinned up. He could see the top of her black dress and he knew it was the one she bought three months ago when Rizavi beat KBP 32 before her and she had to go shopping with her.

He saw Griffin sit next to Pidge and his hand clenched immediately. He didn't know what the history was between them but he knew something had happened and he knew from the look on Griffin's face, he wanted something to happen again. He watched proudly as she rejected Griffin but the man didn't take it well. He continued talking showing her something that visibly upset her.

Curtis paused the footage here and looked at the Veronica and Allura, "You didn't mention that James Griffin was at the club with you."

"We didn't see him," Allura answered.

Shiro picked up his communicator and summoned Griffin to them immediately. He then turned to Keith, "Relax and let Curtis handle this. It is his job."

Keith scowled but remained silent. Curtis took the image of Pidge and Griffin off the screen. A few minutes later, Griffin arrived.

Curtis started his questioning immediately, "You are aware that Dr. Katie Holt is missing?"

"Yes," Griffin answered.

"Then why didn't you tell us that you had contact with her?" Curtis asked pulling up the image on the screen.

"That was over a day ago. I didn't think it was important," Griffin said brushing it aside.

Keith clenched his fists, "What did you say to her?"

"That's none of your business," Griffin scoffed at him.

"Pidge is my business!" Keith declared standing quickly, sliding over the table towards Griffin and pulling him by his shirt towards him.

"That's enough Keith," Shiro barked. Lance reached him first and grabbed his back to pull him away from Griffin.

"What did you say to her?" Keith demanded loudly as Shiro's hand closed around one of his arms to pull him further away.

"Nothing important," Griffin said looking away ashamed.

Shiro and Lance pulled him to the other side of the room and even though they let go of him, they stayed at his side.

"What you told her could explain her mental state. I need to know all the details," Curtis said seriously. This was not the funny loveable Curtis. This was Curtis in his professional capacity and he took his work very seriously.

Griffin remained silent.

Curtis sighed, "Do I need to remind you that a person is missing?"

"I told her about the bet," Griffin mumbled.

"What was that?" Curtis asked again.

"The bet," Griffin said more clearly.

"What bet?" Curtis, Shiro and Keith asked simultaneously.

Griffin refused to look at any of them.

"That was cheating!" Lance accused him.

"Yeah well I was fed up of you guys raking in all the money," Griffin snapped at the Red Paladin.

"What bet?" Keith asked again this time looking at Lance for an explanation. He was supposed to know everything that happened on base.

"This isn't as bad as it sounds," Lance prefaced his explanation with.

"Just spit it out," Keith ordered.

"There was a base wide bet on when you and Pidge would break up," Lance explained softly.

Keith took a moment to absorb that information. He could see how that news would hurt Pidge but he couldn't see it making her that upset. They knew the base talked about them and that there were spiteful people out there who bore ill will towards them.

"And what else did you tell her?" he asked Griffin.

"All of your friends are in on it," he answered smugly.

"What!" Keith exploded ready to charge at Lance but Shiro was now holding him with both hands. "Why on Earth would you do that to us? You're supposed to be our friends!"

"Is that all?" Curtis asked Griffin ignoring what was going on between Lance and Keith at the moment.

"That's it I swear. After that she went to the bar and I haven't seen her since," Griffin swore.

"Ok you are dismissed," Curtis said.

Griffin left the room and Curtis turned to Keith and Lance.

"You two need to table this matter for another time. Right now we need to find Dr. Holt," Curtis said. "Griffin said she went to the bar. Let's look at that footage."

Sure enough the camera confirmed Griffin's account. Keith watched Pidge order a stiff drink at the bar when a strange man sat beside her.

"Oh no," Curtis exhaled. "That's the Broker."

"Who is the Broker?" Colleen asked.

From Shiro's reaction Keith knew it was bad.

Curtis paused the video, "The Broker started off as a small time criminal that sold performance enhancers to cadets. He then graduated up to arms, intel, anything that could fetch a hefty price. He used his clients to further his business interests. When you couldn't pay he made you enter into a binding contract. He has some sort of chip to make people do what he says." Curtis paused and looked at the Holts, "Was your daughter taking any enhancers to help with her work load?"

"No, NO, hell no, absolutely not, my daughter would never, Pidge isn't like that, Pidge would never, she doesn't need enhancers," those were some of the answers from everyone in the room.

Keith was highly offended at the question. Pidge didn't need enhancers. She was natural genius.

"I thought so but it is my duty to ask." He resumed the video and then paused it again, "There," he pointed to a small remote in the Broker's hand. "That is the binding contract but how did he get Pidge into it. We haven't seen any evidence that he injected her with anything. Keith you're with her the most. Has she had any marks around her neck lately?"

"No," Keith responded. None that he had seen but he had been on a lot of Blade missions lately. Had she been attacked and he failed her?

"There could be another explanation," Shiro suggested. He used his communicator to call Major Iverson who answered immediately.

"Major when it was discovered the Katie Holt had infiltrated the Garrison as Pidge Gunderson was an investigation conducted?" Shiro asked.

"No, she's a genius it was just assumed she hacked the system," Iverson responded.

"Thank you," Shiro said and ended the call.

"I see where you're going with this," Curtis said tapping his chin in thought.

"I don't get it," Lance admitted.

Curtis looked at him, "When you started here. Didn't you have to pass a medical test? Didn't you have to pass a blood test?"

"Exactly," Shiro said beaming at this husband.

"How does that connect to the Broker?" Lance asked confused.

"If you're on enhancers then you have to pass the blood test and in order to do that you go back to the Broker and pay for that service. Katie must have found out about him and used his services to pass the test and get into the Garrison. The Broker isn't an idiot. Despite her young age he would have seen the value in placing her in a binding contract that he could collect on later," Curtis explained.

"This is all my fault!" Colleen said standing with tears in her eyes "If I had been a better mother. If I had listened to her more."

"Colleen," Sam said reaching for her hand but she pulled away from him and exited the room.

Keith's communicator beeped. "It's Hunk," he said answering it, "Where is she?"

"Wherever she is, it isn't on Earth," Hunk answered.

"Could the bracelet be off?" Keith asked.

"If it was it would come up with a location, if it were destroyed it would show destroyed. She's not on Earth," Hunk repeated 100% sure of himself.

Shiro looked at Curtis, "Find out everything you can about the current plans of the Broker, the rest of us are going to the IGF Atlas. We'll search our galaxy for her," Shiro ordered.

"We should take the Lions just in case. I'll see if I can convince Green to let me take her to the Atlas," Keith stated.

"If anyone can get Green to move, it's you," Shiro stated with a wry smile.

* * *

Keith decided to go to Pidge's room first and collect the bag she always had packed for off world missions. He chose to pass through the Peace Quad since Pidge always liked it there and he had this insane notion that he might feel closer to her if he spent a few minutes there. When he entered the Quad his eyes were immediately drawn to Colleen sitting on the fountain. His first instinct was to avoid her but his conscious pointed out that she was Pidge's mother. She was always kind to him and he should return that kindness so he took a seat next to her.

"It isn't your fault," he said to her.

She looked at him, "Thank you for the kind words Keith but the facts are the facts. I failed her as a mother."

"No," Keith disagreed. "You raised a strong independent daughter. How many girls Pidge's age would have been able to pull off what she did?"

"I should have been there for her," Colleen insisted stubbornly.

"You were. She had all the skills you taught her. Do you know, just after we formed Voltron, Pidge wanted to leave and go out on her own in this massive universe to find Sam and Matt?"

"What stopped her?" Colleen asked curiously.

"A mission. She learned a valuable lesson about team work. You should be proud. Yes sometimes, Pidge is too stubborn for her own good and none of us can stop that. The only thing we can do is be there when something backfires on her," Keith stated wisely.

Colleen smiled at Keith, "I am so happy she has someone like you in her life."

"Really? At dinner you always seem to take pity on me when they are discussing their work," Keith said.

"It's not pity Keith, even Veronica and I get tired of hearing about it. Katie has her father and brother wrapped around her little finger. The three of them can go on forever. A change of subject is always good. You're part of the family. Why can't we talk about things that interest you?"

A warm feeling passed over Keith as Colleen told him he was part of the family. It felt great to know he was accepted by the most important people in Pidge's life.

"We should get going. Sam and Matt are getting antsy and want to leave right away," Colleen explained.

Keith nodded. "Do you know what happened between Matt and Hunk?"

"Matt was upset. He said some things to Romelle, and Hunk stepped up to defend her and the words got out of hand. I don't think Veronica is speaking to Matt at the moment. I fear if we don't find Katie quickly, Matt's going to do something stupid that might cause his marriage to come to an end."

Keith found himself placing his hand over Colleen's, "I promise you that I intend to find her as quickly as possible."

"I know you do," Colleen responded.

They parted ways and Keith continued on his way to Pidge's room. He half expected to find Cosmo on her bed waiting for him but her room was empty. The room was much cleaner than the first time he stepped into it. To him it was a mess but Pidge had some order to it only she understood. She did start to clean it up more after both he and Cosmo tripped over her 'projects' on the floor.

He knew where her bag was and he easily retrieved it. When he left her room he intended to go straight to Black but his feet carried him to her lab in the Commander Samuel Holt Building. He didn't know why he stopped there. He knew Pidge wasn't there. He looked up at the ceiling in contemplation and he noticed a tiny camera watching her lab. That was probably how they got in. He walked away and called Curtis. Maybe the camera could trace back to Pidge.

* * *

He arrived at the Paladin's hanger to find the other three Paladins waiting for him.

"Keith it is not the way it sounds," Allura assured him.

"And how does it sound?" Keith asked. "Because it sounds like all of you placed bets."

"We did but we bet for you not against you," Hunk told him.

"The bet reset each month and we always bet you would last the month. We were saving the money we won to throw you guys a big engagement party," Lance exclaimed. "Griffin was just bitter that he was losing so he twisted the facts to make it seem like we didn't support you."

"We're not engaged," Keith stated.

"Yet, but we all know it's just a matter of time," Lance said. "That's how much faith we have in you. We saw an opportunity and we took it. Allura and Romelle already have the theme worked out. Rizavi has been shopping for decor, Kinkade bought a new camera to document the entire process, Hunk's working on the menu and I've been trying to source a venue. It was supposed to be a big surprise and that idiot spoiled it. The only bright side is I hear the rest of his team is dealing with him. Apparently you don't want to be on Leifsdottir's bad side."

Allura clasped her hands together, "Are we forgiven?"

"I'll see what Pidge thinks when we find her," Keith said.

"Let's get going then," Hunk declared.

Keith nodded and headed to Black's hanger first. As soon as he entered he was hit with a strong wave of that feeling that had been plaguing him from Black. The other Paladins hadn't felt it so it had to be something specific to his relationship with Pidge. Was he feeling her or did Green know something was wrong and was reaching out to him through Black?

"Black, I'm going to go talk to Green. We need her for this mission. I want you to follow us up to the Atlas."

His Lion acknowledged him and Keith walked over to the hanger on his left. It was there he found his space wolf. Comso was just how Lance had described, sitting on the ground in front of Green, staring up at her and growling.

Maybe Cosmo knew pidge wasn't on Earth. Maybe he wanted Green to take him to find her and the Lion was refusing hence his wolf's growl of frustration. Cosmo was the more than just a pet. He was family and if he was anything like Keith there were no lengths he wouldn't go to, to protect family.

Cosmo looked smaller and Keith could only assume that the teleporting had taken a toll on his body. He would have to ask Hunk to cook big meal for Cosmo when they boarded the Atlas.

"Cosmo," Keith said softly.

As soon as Cosmo realised that Keith was there, his wolf lay on the ground and covered his eyes with his paws. Keith realised he felt guilty. He had told Cosmo to keep her safe. He was teleporting around the base because he realised Pidge wasn't there. He was the first one to realise that something was wrong and he was looking for her.

"It's not our fault buddy. Even if I was here it would have still happened," Keith admitted honestly. "They planned to take her; however because of you we found out something was wrong. Right now we need to focus on finding her."

He looked up at the Green Lion. "I know I'm not your Paladin. She is not here on Earth. We are going to look for her with the Atlas. I need you to go there so you can be ready for when we find her. Please Green. She needs you."

Green's eyes flashed, her head came down and she opened her jaw to allow them in. They both entered and went into the cockpit.

"Ok Paladins, let's head to the Atlas," Keith ordered, taking off first with Green.

The Lion mostly flew herself while he concentrated on Black behind them. Once they cleared Earth's atmosphere he saw the IGF Atlas up ahead but then Green suddenly veered off course.

"Green?" he questioned.

"Keith? What's going on?" Lance asked.

"I don't know. Maybe Green has found her?" Keith suggested hopefully. He turned to look at Cosmo but his wolf was just as clueless as him.

The screens showed Blue, Red and Yellow in line behind Green. Black was still heading for the Atlas and Keith had to concentrate to pull him off course. They flew out to the edge of the galaxy where the GCS relay was located. Green started to circle the relay.

"Green I don't understand," Keith said lost.

"I think I do!" Hunk said. "There's a strange energy reading coming through the relay. Green is responding to that but not any of the other Lions."

"Maybe it is Pidge trying to reach out to Green," Allura suggested.

"The system wasn't designed for this but she could have found a way to get it to work," Hunk mused.

"Can you trace it back to her?" Keith asked hopefully.

"The energy is being broadcast by all the relays now. It doesn't contain any data on which relay sent the message," Hunk explained before his tone turned dark, "I'll have to work with Matt to try to isolate the original relay."

Without being asked to, Green changed course towards the Atlas. "We're heading back to the Atlas," Keith informed the team.

The feeling in Keith's chest eased significantly and he concluded that Green was satisfied with their progress. There was a sense of optimism that started to seep into him and he knew that wherever Pidge was, she was still alive and safe but most important of all he felt like they had the time to find her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. So what did you guys think about Season 8. I wish the show didn't end so soon. There was still so much story to tell. I'm thinking about writing a story that continues on from the ending they gave us with a new threat to the universe.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. In the next chapter we skip forward about a decade and Pidge get a visit from an old 'friend'.


End file.
